


Love is a Polaroid

by letgoofmygreggo



Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, But everyone will get their chance to shine, F/F, F/M, M/M, Main focus on Hatsome and Sjips, Mentions of abuse and self harm in later chapters, Multi, Polyamory, Self-Harm, Senior year, Sjips - Freeform, Smut, Tags Subject to Change, Tags to be added, hatsome, long fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-05-06 11:47:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 53,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5415794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/letgoofmygreggo/pseuds/letgoofmygreggo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Senior Year: Your last chance to enjoy childhood before diving into life head first. It's a whole lot easier for some than others, but hardship is what makes people strong. But every now and then, some people fall and it takes a lot of love to get them back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Only in Summertime

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic is actually written by my friend (i just helped with the idea) who asked me to upload it for him. The fic is named after the Imagine Dragons song Polaroid (love is a Polaroid, better in picture) and I plan to keep that theme going with all the Chapter names being from Imagine Dragons songs (some will fit better than others). It starts of simple enough but some serious topics will come out later in the fic and i'll be sure to update the tags. We are hoping to get a chapter out each week as well. :)

Lalna tripped on his laces as he sped into his final class of the first day of senior year, planting his face firmly into the thinly carpeted concrete floor. Giggles erupted from the girls in the back of the classroom, making his face warm with embarrassment. Avoiding eye contact with them, he dusted off and walked carefully to the table he shared with Trott.  
"Dude, I'm really sorry but I need to tell you something, and it's not good news,"  
Trott's eyebrows skyrocketed. Rare were the times when Lalna was this serious.  
"Who died?"  
"What? No, nobody," Blustered Lalna. "You're dating Smith right? I saw you guys this morning. Everybody was talking about how weird it must be for Ross, seeing his two best friends together."  
Trott sighed, he knew exactly where this was going.  
"Well at lunch just now," Lalna continued, "I saw something."  
The blonde's eyes roamed suspiciously over the classroom and leaned in close, bringing his hand up to cover his mouth.  
"I'm sorry Trott, I saw Smith and Ross kissing. I didn't mean to, I was just making my way through the park to get back and they were up in a tree. I know this has to be a shock,"  
"Lal, I know."  
"It sucks that they'd do this to you,"  
"Lalna. I'm aware that they kiss."  
"I just can't believe it, how long have you guys even been together?"  
"Lalna! Shut the fuck up!"  
"Wait what?" Lalna stared at Trott, stunned.  
"The summer was really weird for us, okay. A lot happened."  
Lalna's eyes were full of confusion, his eyebrows furrowed, trying to work it out in his head.  
"Uh. I don't get it. Shouldn't you be pissed?"  
Trott laughed.  
"Look, lemme explain..."

 

Wind shot through Trott's hair like spears as he fell, screaming at the top of his lungs. Time slowed, he felt the sun against his bare chest, heard Smith's cheering from above him, and the perfectly clear, untouched water below him. The moment lasted a lifetime, but then his feet hit the cool water, time returned to normal, and he was embraced by the lake.  
By the time his face broke the surface, Smith was midair.  
"Cannonball!"  
He screamed, smashing into the surface with the subtlety of an angry bull in a china shop. Trott laughed, and shielded his face with his hand to look back up to the cliff, where Ross was standing.  
"Come on down! I know it's scary darling but I believe in you!"  
The dark haired boy made a hand gesture to indicate where Trott could shove his 'Belief'.  
Suddenly, Smith shot up out of the water behind Trott and jumped onto his shoulders. The pair both fell deep into the lake, and when they came back up for air...  
Trott didn't know how to explain it. He'd known that his sexual attractions had been all over the place for a while now, not quite sure which category he fit into. But he stared at Smith, with his wet orange hair and gorgeous smile, and Smith stared back, like he was feeling something too. There was a moment when Trott could have sworn Smith had started to lean forward, and Trott closed his eyes, almost shaking with anticipation.  
And then Ross hurtled out of the sky to land perfectly between them.  
He burst back out of the water and put his arms around his two best friends.  
"I told you both I wasn't scared."

The trio lay stretched out on their towels, under the shade of an enormous tree that perched on the edge of the lake. It's branches, in places, dipped down to kiss the water softly. A light breeze ran through the leaves, making a sound like the tree was sighing.  
The boys sighed along with it.  
You could feel content in the air.  
Trott rolled onto his stomach and looked at his friends.  
"So... Guys, I saw this thing online."  
Ross took his sunglasses off to look carefully at him.  
"I swear to god, Trott, if you're talking about cat's barbed penises again I'm gonna gag you and leave you here. Good luck surviving on just these leaves."  
And with that, a handful of leaves fell all around Trott.  
"No! Nothing like that. Christ."  
"To be fair Trott, you did go on about it for quite a while,"  
piped up Smith.  
"I don't want to talk about cat penises okay!"  
Quiet laughs danced on the wind.  
"I saw these three people, two guys and a girl, yeah, and they were like..."  
Trott trailed off, nerves stopping him.  
Smith grinned.  
"I've seen plenty of videos like that, mate."  
"NO!" Yelled Trott.  
"Whoa, Trott, what's wrong?"  
Ross moved closer, his arm outstretched to console Trott, who was visibly upset. Smith sat up, concern written on his face.  
The small boy spoke quickly,  
"They were dating. All three of them. And I thought it was kinda cool. You know, like having so much more love in a relationship. It's not about porn, or sex, or anything else. I just thought... That the love. Was cool. That's all."  
Smith and Ross made eye contact over Trott's head. Unsure what to say.  
"Forget it. Let's just get back. I've got chores that need doing."  
Trott started the walk back up the cliff-side, leaving Smith and Ross to pick up the towels, brushing the grass blades off quietly.  
"Three people dating. That's kinda weird, right?"  
Ross asked, wanting to hear Smith's opinion before admitting to anything that would make things more uncomfortable.  
"It's... Unusual. But I mean, if it makes them happy, then I guess it's cool. Right?"  
"Absolutely."  
"But I'm not sure I could do it,"  
"Nah, me neither."  
They made eye contact once more, many more words than were actually spoken being exchanged, before turning and running up the hill after Trott.

"Just the three of us tonight boys!"  
Called Smith from the kitchen.  
Ross and Trott had just arrived at Smith's house for the almost weekly party. His parents go out every friday for dinner and a movie, a method recommended by their couple therapist to re-ignite romance. It worked out as a huge positive for Smith's social life, because it means he had the house to himself for hours, and quite often his parents didn't make it home until Saturday morning, finding some cheap motel to "re-ignite" in.  
Taking his shoes off, Ross called back while Trott settled quietly into the couch.  
"What happened? I thought it was gonna be a big night?"  
Smith stepped out of the kitchen, his feet padding against the wooden floor.  
"Well Xephos is apparently planning a big fancy date with Lomadia, so they're out, and Sjin and Sips ditched us for some awful new Disney film showing. I think Sjin's dressing up for it or something?"  
He threw a beer at Ross.  
"So it's just us then?"  
"It's just us."  
The trio quickly settled into the couch, Ross lying over the other two, and watched "Lilo and Stitch".  
By the time the movie was over, Smith and Ross were a little drunk, and Trott had fallen asleep against Smith's shoulder.  
"Aw Ross, look at our little guy. He must've had a big day, it's only ten o'clock."  
Ross sat up and giggled at the sleeping Trott.  
"Well what are we supposed to do now?"  
"We could just watch something else if you want? Make some food?"  
"I don't know, I'm actually pretty tired too."  
"Aww hell no! You can't be out too!"  
"I'll stay up with you for a bit if you want? But I feel like Trott would probably appreciate a bed."  
Smith looked down at the sleeping boy.  
"You're probably right. I'll get out the mattresses."  
Ross stood up and stretched, and Smith couldn't help but stare at his exposed middle, smooth but for the light tuft of hair travelling down into his pants.  
Ross knew exactly what he was doing to Smith. The ginger's wandering eyes hadn't gone unnoticed this summer.  
Smith coughed, and got up, making his way to the spare bedroom for mattresses.  
Ross picked the sleeping Trott up in his arms, breathing in the smell of his body spray, and carried him to Smith's bedroom.  
Trott mumbled something in his sleep, and Ross laughed quietly and held him closer, then let him down gently onto Smith's king size bed.  
Smith walked down the hall with the mattress, and then quietly approached his bedroom. He didn't know why he didn't just walk in, but he felt something in his chest. He peeked around the corner, just in time to see Ross remove his lips from Trott's forehead.  
He made a choking noise, and Ross' eyes moved straight to him. Faking a cough, he pulled the mattress in.  
"You know," began Ross, "I think it'd be best not to move him again. He looks comfortable enough as he is, don't you think?"  
Smith stood for a moment, looking hard at Ross.  
"Yeah, I guess so..."  
Ross put his hand against the back of his neck, a sign of embarrassment.  
"I mean, we could sleep either side of him. We don't have to use the mattress. I mean, if it's cool with you."  
Smith sat on the end of his bed and put his face in his hands.  
"Ross. I saw you kiss him. You don't have to make an excuse to sleep next to him. I can take the couch if you want to be alone with him. I don't mind."  
Ross looked around the room uncomfortably, trying to find anywhere to look that wasn't Smith's defeated face.  
"That's not what I want."  
Smith looked up. "Well what do you want?"  
A pause.  
"Both of you."  
Confusion flicked across Smith's face, followed by a small smile. He lay down on the bed, and put his arm around Trott. Ross did the same, on the other side.  
With their arms tucked around their sleeping friend, Ross and Smith pressed their foreheads together. Smith closed his eyes with a grin on his face, and Ross snuggled tighter into his friends. Beneath them, Trott smiled.  
The trio slept like babies.

 

When Trott was finished, Lalna looked even more confused than before.  
He pulled books out of his bright purple backpack and set them down on the table gently, before looking up to meet Trott's eyes again.  
"So the three of you?" He said, squinting.  
"Are together. Yes."  
A moment passed. Lalna brushed his hair out of his eyes.  
...  
...  
"That's fucking awesome! Threesomes all the time must be like, heavenly."  
Trott released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding and began to laugh.  
"You have no idea how much it means to me, that you think it's cool. You're the first person I've talked to about it, and I've been so scared."  
Lalna put his hand on the smaller boy's shoulder and grinned.  
"You know everybody around here is pretty cool. I don't think you have to worry about a thing, honestly. I think everybody's just gonna be happy for you guys."  
Trott brushed a tear from his eyelashes as their teacher walked in, resting a stack of papers on his desk. He glanced at the bored faces of the students and sighed.  
"Right everybody, please open your books, today we're going to be reading about-"  
He was cut off by the sound of an explosion, followed swiftly by the shattering of the large window pane that looked out to the park that bordered the south side of the school.


	2. I am the colour of boom

"I'm relatively certain we can be arrested for this," said Sjin.  
Tom had come to him just two days before school started for the year with a bag of gunpowder, and an idea to start the year off with a 'bang'.  
"Almost certainly," Tom replied as he carefully poured the grainy powder into a large paper hemisphere.  
"So you're not worried about it at all?" Sjin said. He was perched on one of the benches, looking around the empty science lab, spinning a knife dangerously in his hands. Nobody was going to disturb them, this classroom had been closed off for renovations over the summer and they hadn't even started on it yet.  
Sjin had arrived on the scene first, and spent a good ten minutes looking over the vulgar graffiti covering all of the wooden benches, most of it being written by him. A memory struck him and he ran to the back of the classroom and kneeled down to look under the desk. The words "Sips and Sjin 4eva" was cut into the underside, surrounded by pieces of chewed gum placed to create a heart shape. Sjin glared suspiciously at the worn down words, before walking to the teacher's desk and finding a knife, and returning to refresh the damage. He was just finishing up when Tom walked in.  
"So when did you know you were... You know. A homo?" Tom asked, breaking Sjin out his thoughts. Sjin put the knife down and looked hard at Tom, who was still focused on the firework as if he'd asked a perfectly normal question.  
"Tom. What the actual fuck kind of question is that?"  
"Well I mean, people talk about 'just knowing', right? When was that moment for you?"  
Sjin looked out the window.  
"Uh, I guess I've always known. I'm pretty sure that's the case for most people. Having a 'moment of clarity' about your sexuality is kind of an out of date concept, I think. Nowadays most people just know."  
Tom blushed. "Well now I just look like a dick for asking. Sorry."  
"You don't have to apologize. Why do you ask?"  
"No reason," Tom said quickly. Sjin's eyebrows raised.  
Silence fell for a few seconds, and the only sounds were the far-off footfalls of students and the powder running out of Tom's plastic bag.  
"What about the sex." Tom said quietly.  
Sjin laughed,  
"What about it?"  
"Is it weird. With two guys and stuff. Vaginas just seem so well designed, why do you want to spit in the face of that kind of engineering."  
Sjin began laughing uncontrollably and stood up, putting his hand on Tom's shoulder.  
"The sex is good."  
A movement from out in the hallway caught Sjin's eye and he felt his heartbeat speed up.  
"Tom! Fuck! Fuck! Tom! Fuck!" Whispered Sjin in alarm, ducking down low and hiding under the desk.  
Tom looked up, and spotted Xephos looking through the window.  
"Sjin you twat, it's just Xephos." He raised his hand in greeting.  
A very confused Xephos returned the gesture before opening the door and walking inside.  
"What on God's green earth are you two up to..." He trailed off, spotting the gunpowder.  
"Jesus guys. Whatever you think you're doing, it's a bad plan. I guarantee it."  
Sjin's head popped up from under the desk.  
"Well obviously. What the hell are you doing here?"  
"I'm taking a shortcut, I'm really really late, I'm supposed to see Lomadia to sort out details of our date tonight before class starts. What the hell are YOU doing, making explosives in a science lab?! You're both going to be twenty different types of dead if anybody sees this."  
"Well..." Sjin began.  
"You know what?" Xephos interrupted, taking a step towards the door.  
"I don't care. The less I know the better." And he hurried to the door.  
"B-Bye!" Tom called after him.  
Sjin’s eyebrow raised before he returned to his sitting position on the desk just as Tom was finishing up the explosive.  
"This is gonna be insane."

Xephos ducked and weaved through the flocks of students filling the halls to get to Lomadia's locker. His heart raised into his throat when he saw her standing in front of her locker, her blonde hair falling across her shoulders and wearing her never-absent owl beanie.  
"Hey," he said, sliding up next to her, placing his arm up against the locker in a gesture he prayed looked smooth.  
"Hey back," she said, smiling.  
"So, about tonight, I was thinking maybe I could make a picnic, and we could go down to the beach, and then maybe see a movie..."  
"Uh," she interrupted, her face going red.  
"I'm really sorry, but stuff's come up. Nilesy's cat is going into surgery this afternoon and he really needs me to be there for him. He's pretty upset."  
Xephos' smile dropped from his face like a rock.  
"Oh. Well that's fine, I guess. Nilesy's cat is pretty important."  
"Please don't do this," Lomadia said, exasperated. She closed her locker and wouldn't meet Xephos' eyes.  
"It's not like I want to ditch, I just really need to be there for him. I can't just leave him alone to deal with it while I'm on some date."  
"It's not just 'some date', I've been planning this for a while now, and you've cancelled the last two times. I didn't even get to see you before school came around again. I want to spend time with you, I really do. But you just keep coming up with convenient excuses not to spend anytime with me. If you don't want to see me, just let me know. I don't want to be your sad little puppy dog that gets thrown a treat whenever you feel like it."  
Now Lomadia was angry, glaring daggers at Xephos.  
"It's not like that and you know it. I'm just busy helping a friend, and I'm sorry but you'll just have to wait. We'll have plenty of opportunities to go out, I promise. Just not tonight."  
"You know what, fine, just flick me a text when you finally find some free time, and I'll drop everything to see you. That sounds like a great plan, yeah."  
Xephos threw up his arms and stalked away from her, his face red with embarrassment and anger. She called after him.  
"I'll text you after the surgery."  
Xephos mumbled curses under his breath and was too busy staring at his shoes to notice the person standing around the corner of the hall. He walked straight into them.  
"Whoa! Xephos, what the hell are you doing?! Watch where you're going! I could have been hurt." Sips said, feining hurt feelings.  
"Sorry," he murmured.  
Sips pretended not to notice that his friend was upset.  
"So, have you seen Sjin? I've been looking for him all morning with no luck. Do you know if he's sick or something?"  
Xephos smiled.  
"He didn't tell you? He's working on a 'project' with Tom in the old science room."  
"Aw fuck," Sips said.  
"That stupid firework thing? I honestly just didn't believe he'd go through with it. Idiot. Which room is it?"  
Xephos looked at his watch and decided he had enough time to walk Sips to the room.  
"Come with me, I'll show you."  
As they walked back down the hallway, Xephos' argument with Lomadia plagued his mind.  
"Sips, how do you and Sjin maintain such a good relationship?" He asked. Sips looked at him with an eyebrow raised in confusion  
"You guys just always seem so carefree and loving, while me and Lomadia never seem to find enough time for each other, she always seems to be cancelling dates and it feels like we fight about everything"  
Sips looked thoughtfully into the air for a moment, before chuckling to himself.  
"I mean, we fight, and we have cancelled plans all the time, but I guess we never take any of it seriously because we know we can't stay mad at eachother. Sometimes I even look forward to fights, because it means the makeup sex the next day. And the makeup sex is always awesome.” Sips winks at Xephos before continuing.  
“It's just about keeping cool and having faith in your love, I guess."  
He shrugged and threw a grin at Xephos.  
"So if I'm always worried about it, does that mean I don't have the same kind of confidence in our relationship that you have with yours?"  
Sips laughed again,  
"You worry way too much. Everybody loves differently, and you and Lomadia have been together for so long, stuff's bound to get a little ugly at times. You just gotta get through it, I guess. Have you tried spicing the bedroom up a little? Sjin once got this enormous..."  
"And we're here!" Xephos announced quickly, as they arrived at the door.  
"Thanks for the help, Sips, I'll catch you later." He said, turning to leave.  
"Wait you're not coming in?"  
Xephos gave him a sarcastic smile.  
"Yeah, I'm really excited to get my name on a police report. See you later." He waved a farewell and sped off again. Sips watched until his friend turned the corner, before turning to the door to the lab.

"Sips!" Yelled Sjin in glee, running over to his boyfriend and throwing his arms around his neck. "I was wondering when you'd find me." He giggled.  
"Well it was a fucking challenge, I'll tell you that. Xephos led me here in the end. I didn't realize you were serious about the firework."  
Sjin looked at him, with a questioning look on his face.  
"You didn't realize? Really?"  
Sips looked down and laughed.  
"Yeah, how dumb of me."  
"Oi, Sjin, come here!" Yelled Tom. He'd almost finished, he just needed Sjin's nimble hands to finish up a couple of the smaller things.  
"Come look, Sips, it's awesome." Sjin said, grabbing his partner's hand and leading him over to the desk.  
"It looks... Big." Sips said, in a strange kind of awe looking at the large sphere of explosive.  
Sjin laughed,  
"Yeah I know, but what do you think of the firework?" He said, winking.  
Tom wrinkled his nose.  
"I don't need to hear the penis-y things guys, or I'm gonna have images I really don't need burned into my mind."  
"You know you love it Tom," Sjin drawled, draping his arm across Tom's shoulder.  
Tom pushed him off, and stood up, explaining the few things that were left to do.  
"So where are you planning on setting this baby off?" Asked Sips, leaning in to look closer.  
Tom glanced at Sjin.  
"The park, we think. So if anything goes wrong we won't need the assistance of firemen."  
"That's probably for the best." Sips said, poking the orb with his index finger.  
Sjin was moments away from finishing when the bell for first period rang out.  
Sips sprang up, collecting his blue backpack from the floor.  
"Okay, that's my cue to leave. I'll see you at lunch, okay?" He said, leaning his arms on the desk and leaning in to Sjin's face.  
"You most certainly will," Sjin said, touching his nose to Sips', before brushing a kiss across his lips.  
"See you then."  
Sips smiled and walked out of the classroom. Tom waited until he could no longer hear Sips' footsteps before moving over to Sjin.  
"You guys are so comfortable with each other, it's incredible. Someday I want a relationship just like yours, where you're just as much friends as partners."  
Sjin looked toward the door Sips left through, smiling.  
"Thanks for saying so Tom. One day you'll get a girl…. or boy and you will be so perfect together, and then i’ll be the one asking about your sex life”  
Sjin winked as a blush appeared on Tom's face.  
“Anyway, we're setting this off last period right? Where do we store it until then?"  
Their eyes searched the room, Tom suggested a cupboard under one of the sinks but the firework wouldn't fit.  
"Let's just leave it under the teacher's desk. It's not that well hidden, but I don't think anybody's going to come looking for it."  
They placed the paper sphere carefully under the desk, before exiting the room and making their way to their first classes of the year.

"You ready?" Tom asked.  
Immediately after lunch, they'd made their way to the classroom to find the firework in the same place they left it. Sjin emptied his backpack and placed it carefully inside, before they made their way out of the silent block of the school to the park.  
It was a beautiful day, and Sjin smiled at the sun on his face, happy for the warmth. The trees didn't move at all, no wind was present to make them dance. The park was quiet apart for the pleasing sounds of insects calling to each other, and a child screaming in delight at a playground not far away.  
"Ready as I'll ever be," Sjin said, his stomach knotting, but excitement clear in his voice.  
"Okay, here we go," Tom said happily and he placed the explosive on the grass.  
"Do you think it's too close to that classroom?" Sjin wondered, pointing to the edge of the school nearby.  
"Well if we do it too far away, nobody will ever know, so this is fine. I hope." Tom said, sending Sjin a cheeky grin.  
"Okay, let's get this party started then."  
Sjin hid in a bush nearby, making room for Tom to join him as soon as the fuse was lit. After a couple of tries, Tom finally got the little blue lighter to maintain a flame, and he held it near the fuse.  
It caught, and as the flame wound it's way up the fuse towards the firework, Tom sprinted with a dopey grin on his face straight into the bush next to Sjin. They waited with baited breath. A couple of seconds passed. A few more.  
"Do you think it went out?" Sjin asked.  
A blinding flash of light followed immediately by a deafening boom answered Sjin’s question.  
Followed by glass breaking and screaming.  
"Tom!" Sjin yelled, his voice sounding strange to his own damaged ears.  
Sjin's eyes adjusted just enough to make out Tom's face, looking toward the school.  
He followed his gaze, to the shattered window pane of the classroom and the terrified faces of students behind it.  
Tom looked at Sjin in silence.  
Sjin's hand flew to his mouth.  
"Oh fuck," he whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We really hope you guys are liking the story so far. We have so much planned for it and we can't wait to show you guys! Also we welcome any feed back that you guys could give us. We are always looking to improve and it's always nice to hear what you guys think :)


	3. Is it just smoke + mirrors?

"Please, just make a decision. I don't care what we see, I just want to spend time with you."  
"If you're so hellbent on finally spending time together then why don't you make the choice? I care about as much as you do."  
Rythian and Zoey stood opposed to each other, both teens' body language furious.  
"Well if you don't care then why are we even trying," Rythian said, a little quieter than before.  
"That's not what I said! I just want you to actually take some control, make up your mind, and let's just go on a date. You blow all this shit so out of proportion." Zoey yelled, folding her arms.  
Rythian glared at her.  
"I'm blowing this out of proportion? You treat everything like I'm doing it purely to piss you off, when all I'm actually doing is trying to be considerate."  
"Breaking news! It's not considerate if I ask you not to do it. Fuck it, I can't deal with this right now. I've already started piling up homework." She said, and pivoted quickly on her heels to walk away, leaving Rythian angry with his hands in fists at his sides.  
"Poor guy," said Lalna softly to Nano.  
The pair had been watching the fight since it's beginning, subtlety of course, from one of the picnic tables in the north block's courtyard.  
"I heard that they've been pretty messed up all summer. Do you think they're gonna break up or something?" Nano asked softly. She hated seeing drama like this, it made her upset.  
"Dunno," said Lalna .  
"Maybe. They seem pretty strained and stuff." He shrugged.  
She smiled involuntarily, and squinted dramatically.  
"You know, I think I can see the fucks you would have given flying away in the wind."  
Lalna laughed, recovering from the giggles just as Honeydew approached them holding a metal case.  
Nano smiled sweetly at him, she'd always liked Honeydew.  
"What's in the case, carrot-top?" She asked, raising herself on her tiptoes and exaggeratedly swinging her arms.  
"You'll never guess," he said, lifting the case up to place it on the table.  
He leaned in conspiratorially, with his hand beside his mouth.  
"Student Council decided this year that as well as your boring usual run-of-the-mill yearbook, we'll also make our own, filled with pictures taken by the students during the year. So I give this cool polaroid camera to somebody, they take a picture, and pass it on to somebody else. So we get the year from the perspective of students, not just in-school things. What do you think? You want first try?"  
Nano jumped up and down in excitement.  
"Yes, yes, YES!" She yelled.  
"But wait," said Lalna,  
"Why us first?"  
Honeydew looked curiously between both of them.  
"You're going on your first date tonight, right?"  
Lalna choked on his own saliva.  
Nano stood stunned, before turning on Honeydew.  
"Who the hell told you that?!"  
Honeydew put his hands up in a sign of surrender.  
"Sorry, sorry! I don't remember, I just heard it somewhere. I thought it might be nice. If you guys aren't dating then I can take it to somebody else."  
Lalna put his hand up to his neck as his face reddened.  
"The thing is, we are kinda going on a date. We just didn't want..."  
"Nobody should have said anything," Nano interrupted.  
"We're not telling people. It's just a quiet night between friends that might be more than friends. We'll take it, either way."  
She grabbed the container with both hands and ran playfully away to her final class of the first day.  
Honeydew was left looking confused.  
"We've been friends for a long time now," Lalna explained.  
"And everyone is always saying how much of a cute couple we would make, so we thought maybe it would be a good time to try and see if there is anything more between us."  
Honeydew, still a little confused, smiled.  
"Well that's cool. Just remember to get the camera out of Nano's hands when you're done. Only one photo per turn."  
"Got it," said Lalna. Realizing he was almost late for his lesson, he gave a quick farewell to Honeydew and made his way to the small park that would offer him a shortcut to class.

Xephos laid down on his bed after getting home from school and put his hands over his face and laid there for a few hours feeling sorry for himself. His mother came in and asked if he wanted any afternoon tea, which he politely declined. He then spent another half an hour staring at Lomadia's contact number in his phone, trying to talk himself into asking her about the surgery. In the end he decided against it, and angrily picked his keys up from his desk with the intention to just drive for a while and try to sort his thoughts out.  
Lately things were becoming more and more difficult with Lomadia, and he'd also been noticing some other things that had been confusing him. There have just been a couple of boys at school recently that his eyes just kind of linger on, instead of moving on as they used to. And the worst part was that now he didn't feel confident enough to go to Lomadia about it, and without her he felt like he had nobody.  
He soon found himself in front of the cinema he and Lomadia were supposed to go to. With an inward shrug, he got out.  
"Might as well," he mumbled to himself.  
And so he found himself staring at the shitty 80's carpet with the smell of popcorn so strong it was almost giving him a headache.  
"I really should have had the camera with me, it would have been so awesome. Just out of nowhere, there was a massive bang and the window just shattered. It was SO crazy, the teacher got us all to hide under desks because she thought it was like, a bomb or something."  
Xephos stood at the back of a que listening to Lalna's loud voice explaining the events of the afternoon to Nano, who stood wide-eyed next to him taking in all the information as she played idly with the straps of her bag. By the sounds of it, Sjin and Tom's plan had gone more than a little awry. He knew there would be hell to pay tomorrow. Soon he was at the front of the line, losing sight of Lalna and Nano as they entered the dark theatre.  
He ordered a ticket, and when asked if he wanted snacks he realized he hadn't eaten since lunch, and ordered a large combo of popcorn and coke.  
Just as he was walking in he heard a familiar mumble, and turned back to see Rythian and Zoey walking in. Rythian was whispering something in his girlfriend's ear, he couldn't make out the words. Zoey laughed and smiled.  
By the time the film had started, only two other people Xephos didn't recognize had come in. He guessed that this is probably the average population of a movie theatre on a Monday evening.  
He leaned back, put his head up, and prepared for the advertisements.

Lalna sat down stiffly in the cinema seat. Nano glanced down at him before taking a seat herself.  
"I know this is a date but you are allowed to be yourself. I prefer normal Lalna over date mode Lalna," she whispered over his arm.  
He gave a nervous giggle.  
"Uh, yeah, okay."  
The longer the night went on, the more that Nano thought perhaps this was a bad idea. She knew she loved Lalna like a brother, but he was acting so strange and she was worried that this night might ruin years of a fantastic friendship and fond memories.  
Lalna was thinking exactly the same thing. He didn't know why he couldn't just relax and enjoy the time he was spending with Nano like he normally would. It's not like this is the first movie they'd been to together. But something was holding him back, and it made him nervous. He didn't know exactly how Nano felt about this "relationship", and was worried she might have developed feelings that he didn't reciprocate.  
He suddenly felt like he had to do something, quick, and did the only thing he could think of: He raised his arms to stretch, and yawned, leaving the one arm across the back of Nano's seat.

Xephos choked on his popcorn, seeing Lalna's arm laying across Nano's shoulders.  
"No fucking way he just did that," he whispered to himself, stifling a laugh. He placed another handful of popcorn into his mouth, intent on the live show in front of him, movie forgotten.

Nano glanced up the moment she felt Lalna's arm.  
"You didn't. Please tell me you didn't."  
Lalna's face went so red it was almost visible in the darkness of the theatre.  
"I didn't," he said, quickly removing his hand.  
He thought he heard a pig oinking.

Xephos dropped to the filthy floor of the cinema with barely contained snorts of laughter.  
This was so much better than any movie. He felt bad for Lalna, but seeing his arm immediately retreat was the best thing he'd seen in a long time, and he couldn't control himself any longer. Popping back up into his seat, he watched Lalna and Nano closely for a little longer, before deciding nothing else interesting was happening, and moved on to Zoey and Rythian. Clearly he'd missed something, because they were sitting a seat apart now, the air around them crackling with tension. He readied his popcorn again, but nothing interesting happened until the film ended.

"I'm done. I can't do anything right!" Rythian screamed as they made their way out of the theatre. People all over the building were staring.  
"Just shut up, please just SHUT UP!" Yelled Zoey back.  
"All these people are looking at us, you're just embarrassing yourself."  
"The embarrassment is letting you treat me like shit day in and day out and we always just 'get better' but nothing is ever fixed is it? You know, I'm fucking done. Goodbye. I'm taking a taxi home. Have a fucking fantastic life, Zoey."  
Zoey stood there stunned for a moment.  
"Well. Well good! About time you fucking grew a pair and said something. Asshole."  
Xephos walked up to Lalna and Nano as Zoey ran out of the cinema in the opposite direction of Rythian.  
"So that was certainly something, huh?" He said.  
Neither of the pair spoke, evidently too uncomfortable to speak in front of each other after their train wreck of a date.  
Silence lingered in the air for a while, before Nano finally spoke.  
"Lal, I'm making an executive decision. I don't think we should date."  
Xephos' eyes bugged out, and swivelled his head to read Lalna's reaction. He wished he still had some popcorn.  
His shoulders sagged with relief.  
"Thank god. Let's never speak of this again, deal?"  
She smiled.  
"Deal."  
Xephos stuck his head between them.  
"Uh, hell no. I saw the arm move. The school's janitor will know by the end of tomorrow."  
Lalna punched his arm playfully.  
"Shut the hell up. You talk, you die," he said menacingly.  
Nano put herself between them.  
"This is too much testosterone for me. Why don't we go cool down with some ice cream. Xeph, wanna come?"  
Xephos reached into his pocket to check the time, before agreeing.  
"It'd be really nice to go out with some friends right now, yeah."

That night, the first photograph of the Student Yearbook was taken:  
Xephos and Lalna's faces covered in ice cream, with Nano holding the camera sitting between them, all with big smiles on their faces, Nano in the middle of a loud laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked this chapter. Now that basically all the characters are introduced, things are going to pick up from the next chapter onward :) Please remember to comment and kudos if you are enjoying the fic and want more :)


	4. It's all I want it's all we want tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Danger friends, smutty things at the end.

The next morning word spread like wildfire across the student body; An assembly was beginning after first bell in the main hall to discuss the damage the rogue firework did to the school.  
Sjin was shaking, with Sips' hand in his own as they walked towards the large building.  
"Look, don't be a babby. I promise everything will be fine."  
Sjin gave him a shaky smile as they sat down, hands still firmly together.  
As the principal walked with purpose up to the lectern, the quiet chatter of students died down and he stared out across the sea of bodies with a disapproving stare.  
"Good morning." He said, his voice echoing off the wooden walls.  
"As many of you know, yesterday there was an explosion on the south side of school. The cause, as figured out by police over the course of the evening, was a homemade firework. I can't begin to tell you how disappointed the staff and I are about this hideous form of destruction of school property, and so early in the year too. We will be pulling a couple of students out of class today for a few quick questions with police, and if anybody else has any information at all regarding this incident please come forward as soon as possible. We are eager to make sure a just punishment is delivered as quickly as possible. Also please remember that to achieve well academically, you must be studying from the beginning of the year, and keep on top of your homework throughout." A pause. "Dismissed."  
"See?" Whispered Sips in his boyfriend's ear. "No problem. They have suspects, but you know that you won't be on that list. Your parents' positions on the board obviously have some benefits."  
Sjin gave him another weak smile.  
"Not many great things about having my parents, but I guess this counts."  
Sips pulled him up, and they were making their way out of the side door hand in hand when a strong hand was placed on Sips' shoulder.  
"Sips, I'm afraid I'm going to need you to come to my office now." Said a voice strained with barely contained anger.  
It was the principal. He ignored Sjin completely, eyes intent on Sips.  
Sips shot Sjin a confident smile and a small nod to communicate that this was fine, before releasing his hand and moving to leave with the principal.  
Sjin took a step after him, "Wait!".  
Sips shot his boyfriend a warning glance, but the principal didn't notice, or perhaps didn't care for Sjin's outburst, and moved Sips along quickly to his office.  
Sips knew there was no way he could actually get in any trouble for this, it was just a song and dance to try to get information that they figure he must have. His record wasn't exactly perfect, but he'd been in class when the firework went off, clearing him of any wrongdoing.  
Soon they arrived at the office, and the principal shoved Sips into the nearest room. There were three plastic chairs, two on one side of a desk, and one on the other. He assumed the single one was probably for him and sat down, looking bored.  
A minute passed before the door opened, revealing the red face of the principal.  
Never breaking eye contact, he took a seat across from Sips and crossed his legs slowly.  
"Sips. What happened yesterday?"  
Sips' eyes rolled, and he rested his head in his hands, and his elbows on his legs.  
"A firework smashed a window. I was asleep in English. Pretty sure the two things are no way related."  
"Do you have any proof that you were not involved in this incident?"  
Sips straightened his back and stretched.  
"I was asleep. And I was in a class." He spoke slower. "Do. You. Understand?"  
"I understand that you were in class at the time. But I do struggle to believe that you had nothing to do with it at all, given your record."  
"Well believe it, buster. I had nothing to do with any of this bullshit."  
"That's enough, you don't use that kind of language in school. I know you have something to do with this. You can have a week of detention for speaking like that, and I'm sure I'll be talking to you again. Dismissed."  
Sips stood up, fuming, and mumbled curses under his breath as he made his way out off the office building.  
Just before exiting, he heard the principal speak to his secretary.  
"He's not saying anything. Get Tom in here. He was out of class at the time."

Sjin spun his pencil around in his fingers idly in one hand, the other drumming a rhythmless beat out on his desk, eyes on the ceiling. He was nervous, and he got itchy when he was nervous.  
Tom and Xephos sat either side of him, both intent on their own Math work until Tom's patience ran out and he reached out for Sjin's hand, stilling it.  
"Could you please, please, stop fiddling. You're making me nervous."  
Sjin's pencil fell to the desk and his eyes focused on Tom slowly, as if he was only just waking up.  
"What?"  
"Sjin, look, we're totally fine. Nobody we don't completely trust saw us with the thing. I'm sure this will all blow over, and everybody will be just fine. I need you to calm down."  
Sjin looked quietly down at his desk.  
"They're going to be looking for students who missed last period. Both of us fall into that category, with no explanation. I can't get in trouble, especially not this early in the year. My parents will absolutely freak out."  
Xephos firmly placed his pencil on the table, and looked across at the other two boys.  
"I kind of missed last period too," he said.  
Sjin's chin hit the floor and Tom began giggling.  
"No freaking way."  
"You didn't."  
"Not a chance."  
"I don't believe it."  
They both spoke over each other, statement after statement, until Sjin became hungry for details and asked about exactly what had happened.  
"My last period yesterday was free, so I went to the library to study like usual," he explained. "I signed in, but the librarian could tell I was upset from the fight Lomadia and I had. I go to the library often, so the librarian has known me pretty much since I started school here. I don't know, I guess she took pity on me and suggested I had some time out, so I just left. Went to the park for a while. Then came back and signed out before heading home."  
Sjin rolled his eyes.  
"So when you say you missed last period, you mean you actually got a staff member to cover for you so that your absence wasn't even noticed. Fuck off man."  
Xephos was in the middle of arguing that it was the worst thing he'd ever done when the senior's dean came to the door. He spoke a few words to their teacher before calling Tom over and taking him out of class.  
Sjin's face had gone white as a sheet, and he began to tinker with his stationary again.  
Xephos spoke to him quietly. "You know he's not going to say anything. You are both going to be absolutely fine, I promise."  
Sjin gave him a nervous smile.  
"Maybe, but the fact that we were both out of class at the time, and our records together, means it's probably going to be pinned on us anyway. We didn't mean for this to happen, you know?"  
Xephos looked toward the door for a moment before standing. "I know, Sjin."  
"Wait, where are you going?" Sjin asked, alarm in his brown eyes.  
Xephos shot him a smile.  
"Keeping my promise."  
Sjin watched intently as Xephos spoke to the teacher before leaving the classroom, not sparing another look at him. Soon he went back to twiddling his pencil, but his eyes never left the door. So many things buzzing around in his head about the firework, Tom’s involvement, Xephos’ intent to make things right, and Sips. That boy always found his way to the forefront of Sjin’s mind.  
He was so completely consumed by his thoughts that he didn’t see a small brown haired boy slide up to fill the space left by Tom’s absence.  
“Hey.” Trott said.  
Nothing but a continuation of the far away stare.  
“Uh, Sjin?” Trott said, leaning over slightly.  
Sjin looked at him. “Oh, Trott! Hey, how are you doing?”  
“Oh, you know, good and stuff.” Trott replied, his face going red. “I have a question and I don’t really know how to bring it up so I’m just going ask, okay?”  
Sjin’s eyebrows rose.  
“I need to know how to make anal sex feel good.”  
Sjin covered his mouth and smiled, which evolved into giggling and then into barely contained laughter. Trott, on the other hand, looked green.  
“Trott,” Sjin said, his words only barely resembling english through his laughter. “I’m sure Google will be able to tell you plenty about that.”  
“Well of course, but I really want the tips from an experienced homo, such as yourself.”  
Sjin smiled and glanced at the teacher before leaning in close.  
“Okay, fine. But not here. I’ll meet you at Fort Fartface after school. You bring the pizza, I’ll bring… Some other stuff.”  
Trott looked terrified at the thought of there being ‘other stuff’, but agreed all the same.  
“See you then!”

Xephos walked purposefully down the hall towards the office building. He’d told his teacher he needed the bathroom.  
Neither Sjin nor Tom could afford to be in this kind of trouble. Xephos knew that Sjin probably wouldn’t be pulled into the office because his parents were very important people as far as the school was concerned. Which left Tom.  
He told himself that he’d put himself in the line of fire for any of his friends, but him and Tom had never been close. It was just after yesterday, the new year, he saw him in a different light. He liked Tom, and wanted to be friends. If he could help him out, then maybe Tom would want to spend time with him.  
Soon he was in front of the door he expected the principal had taken Tom to.  
He knocked, and opened the door without waiting for a response. He’d chosen correctly, and Tom’s face lit up. Xephos smiled at him before the moment was interrupted by the third occupant of the room; The principal.  
“What on earth are you doing here, young man. This kind of interruption will not go unpunished, I hope you realize.”  
Xephos put his hand to his neck.  
“Yes sir, I understand. But I had to let you know, Tom had nothing to do with the events of yesterday. It wasn’t even his fault he was out of class. I was having a problem with my girlfriend and he came to comfort me when I asked him to. I couldn’t let him get in trouble for something I caused.”  
The principal looked hard at him for a moment before standing up.  
“Stay here.”  
As he walked out, shutting the door behind him, Xephos pulled a seat over to Tom.  
“You didn’t tell him anything did you?” Xephos asked.  
“Not a chance. But Xeph, you really didn’t need to do that. Thank you.”  
Tom pulled the older boy into a hug, and an awkward silence fell upon the room.  
Soon the principal returned with a file.  
“This says you were in attendance all day.” He said, angrily.  
“I signed in to last period before leaving, and I came back to sign out. We were only a few blocks away, we didn’t go home or anything. The librarian will back up my story, she noticed I had been gone when I came back.”  
Quiet fell like a blanket across the small room.  
The principal spoke.  
“Detention for both of you. If you’re seen wagging a class again there will be far more serious consequences. Get out.”  
Both students stood and walked quickly back towards class.  
Tom wouldn’t look Xephos in the eye, until they were in front of their class again.  
He spoke quietly.  
“Thankyou”

Fort Fartface had become a base for the children of the neighborhood in third grade, when Xephos, Honeydew and Lalna had constructed it from stuff they’d found all over the town.  
It was nestled deep in a forest on the edge of town, but close enough to shops for it to still be a convenient place to spend time now that they were older.  
The building itself was filled with holes, evidence of a below-par construction crew of eight year olds, but it had a solid roof, and two distinct rooms. One a kind of kitchen that Lalna had set up when he purchased solar panels for a science project that had fallen through when he was twelve. The panels now powered an old microwave that barely worked and a small fridge that was always filled with booze.  
The other was more like a lounge, with ancient couches the teens had picked up from the sides of roads all over town over the years and a small table Sjin had make in workshop his first year of highschool.  
Trott had arrived earlier than Sjin, placing the requested pizza on the table and laying down on the couch, making himself at home until Sjin arrived.  
Soon Sjin was in the doorway, hands filled with plastic bags.  
“Oh christ. What the hell have you done.” Trott asked, eyeing the bags.  
Sjin strolled in, throwing the bags onto Trott and opening the pizza box, helping himself to a large slice of pepperoni. After swallowing, he finally spoke.  
“Take a look.”  
Trott’s eyes nearly bugged out of his skull when he tipped the contents of the bags onto the table.  
Condoms, of every size and flavour, even some glow in the dark ones. Enough lubricant to replace a sizable portion of the ocean, and a set of ‘beginner’ anal beads.  
“What the actual fuck Sjin!?” Trott yelled, not meeting the older boy’s eyes as he began to return all the items to the bags.  
Sjin giggled.  
“You don’t have to be like that around me. I know sex, how it works and how to keep safe. You should be honoured I was able to purchase all of this stuff for you!”  
Trott was half way through an uncomfortable thank you when Sjin interrupted him.  
“Don’t worry about it, it’s on your tab.”  
They both laughed.  
For the next hour, Trott took in all the information Sjin gave him. Oral sex, anal sex, how to apply lubrication and how condoms worked. How to use the beads correctly, and how to make sure he gets the most from the experience.  
He was nervous, to say the least. He’d dated a girl for a while when he was younger, and they’d had sex, but he was terrified of this new experience.  
Trott left with a smile that slowly fell from his face as his stomach began to churn. Even with all this information, his stomach was doing flips. He slowly made his way home, before calling his boyfriends to confirm a time and a place.

The doorbell rang. Trott’s heart ran straight into his throat.  
His parents had gone out for the evening at his request, his excuse being a study group. They were a little suspicious about it, considering it was so early in the year, but they knew Trott liked to keep a handle on his schoolwork and agreed regardless.  
Smith was leaning against the doorway, a nervous smile on his face.  
“Hey,” the redhead said, giving Trott a quick kiss as he walked in.  
“Hey,” Trott replied. “Ross isn’t here yet, so uh, just head into my room if you want. I got some popcorn and stuff if you wanna start watching a movie.”  
Once Smith had left down the hallway, Trott dashed to the kitchen to get a drink of water to try to calm his nerves. His heart felt like it was about to give out, and his legs were shaking. He splashed some of the tap water onto his face to cool himself down before making his way to the bedroom.  
He opened the door and Smith had found his way into Sjin’s bags of goodies, and Trott just about fell over as he spotted the anal beads in Smith’s hands, the boy turning them over in his hands.  
He spotted Trott in the doorway.  
“Uh, Trott? Are these what I think they are?”  
Trott took a deep breath in before sitting down next to Smith on the mattress.  
“Yep. Gifts from Sjin, all of it.”  
Smith reached back into the bag and found some condoms.  
“He’s… Uh… Well prepared.”  
“I know, he’s like some kind of crazed sex fiend. It’s a little worrying.”  
Silence, as each boy avoided eye contact with the other.  
“Trott…” Smith began.  
Trott lifted his face to meet Smith’s eyes.  
“Yeah?”  
“Um. I’ve never had sex before.”  
Trott was stunned. “Wait, what?”  
“Yeah. I didn’t know how to tell either of you. I know you’ve both done stuff, and I was kinda worried what you’d say.”  
A small, understanding smile spread over Trott’s face.  
“It’s fine. If you want to, uh, you could lie back.”  
Just as Smith was laying down on his back, Ross stepped into the room.  
“Hey guys, the door was open so I just let myself in, hope you don’t mind…”  
He trailed off as he had a proper look at his boyfriends on the bed. He threw off his jacket and made his way over, running his hands along Smith’s inner thighs.  
Trott watched for a moment before leaning down to kiss Smith, lips soft against his.  
Ross leaned forward and began placing kisses on the smooth skin just above Smith’s waistband.  
Soon all shirts were gone, three bodies tangling together half naked on Trott’s bed, giggles running out into the hallway as hands run all over, touching places that had never been touched before.  
Soon Ross found himself back at Smith’s waistband, and he began to undo the button at the top of Smith’s jeans. He spared a glance up, making sure the action was acceptable but Smith’s eyes were squeezed shut and he was breathing heavy, Trott’s mouth moving quickly across the ginger’s chest.  
The moment the button popped, Smith’s hardness sprang up through his jocks and he released a moan that sent shivers down Ross’ spine. Ross began lightly biting at Smith’s penis through the fabric, each time his teeth pressed down harder, and Smith got louder.  
Trott attempted to silence him by covering his mouth with his own, but Smith was turned on more than he had ever been, and he grabbed Trott by the neck, running his lips all over the smaller boy’s cheeks and neck, still moaning from the stimulation Ross was providing.  
Trott soon moved down to join Ross at the base of Smith’s length, and helped get his underwear around his ankles, his thickness finally free.  
Ross and Trott immediately wrapped their mouths around Smith, each taking turns to take him in their mouths completely. It went on until Smith arched his back and moved away, desperate not to finish so early before the others.  
Trott was still on his knees in front of the bed, and Ross took the opportunity to grab the top of Trott’s jeans and pull them down until the waistband of both layers lay in the backs of Trott’s knees.  
Trott tensed for a moment, worried about what would happen next. He jumped when he felt a heated breath against his entrance.  
Ross’ face was inches away, but he paused when he felt Trott’s nervousness, running his hands along the younger boy’s sides until he relaxed again.  
Then, without any further hesitation, Ross moved his face between Trott’s soft cheeks and began to rim him.  
Trott gasped and moved his hand to his own crotch, rubbing himself gently.  
Smith watched from the bed, thrilled to see Trott in such a state of pleasure.  
Once Ross finally arose, he went to a bag and pulled out a condom. He leaned over Trott, speaking quietly as his stomach pressed against Trott’s back.  
“Do you want this?”  
Trott whimpered, nodding his head slowly as he continued touching himself.  
Ross didn’t need to be told twice, removing his pants with one hand and lifting the condom to his mouth to open it with his teeth with the other. He moved the condom down his own shaft, shivering with anticipation. Smith threw him the bottle of lube, and Ross began preparing Trott with slow movements, fingers running in and out of Trott’s hole gently, every new push making Trott shake more.  
Eventually Trott had enough, and grabbed Ross’ dick, guiding him towards the one place Ross had been waiting for all night. Slowly Ross moved his hips forward, inching into Trott and the younger boy shook and moaned in a mix of pain and pleasure.  
Once Ross’ balls were against Trott’s taint he stopped moving and simply relished the feeling of being inside one of his boy friends like this. Soon Trott started to move himself back and forth, and Ross matched his moves, thrusting as Trott moved back.  
Smith, tired of being left out, moving his dick in front of Trott’s face. Needing no other encouragement, Trott wrapped his mouth around him and eagerly began moving up and down his shaft.  
After a couple of minutes, Smith began huffing loudly, and yelled as an orgasm wracked his body, sending waves of cum into Trott’s throat. The smaller boy tried to down it all, but coughed and a couple of drops ran down his chin. He kept sucking as the waves of pleasure continued moving through Smith, until he lay down and his penis returned to its flaccid state.  
Just as Trott moved his hands to clean the mess from his face, Ross began moving faster and became louder, grabbing Trott by his hips and pounding as hard as he could, until almost screaming as he shot his load.

The three boys barely fit in the shower together, but they made it work.  
By the time they’d gotten out, it was very late. Trott lead them back to his bedroom, and the three slept naked, heated bodies in a tangle under the blankets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yup. That happened. If you like the smut, if you hate the smut, let me know.  
> See you next week. :)


	5. To the center of your heart

Silence dominated the detention room, hanging over everything like a wet towel.  
Xephos worked quietly on homework he’d already fallen behind on, only occasionally glancing at his wrist, willing the hand on his watch to move faster.  
He spared a glance across the table to Sips and Tom, the former attempting to inconspicuously use his cellphone, the latter chewing gum and staring into the ceiling as if it held the answers to all his questions.  
Two other students doodled quietly at the back of the class, Xephos didn’t recognize them.  
The teacher stood up with a stack of papers in his hand and made his way to the door. Before leaving he spoke across the classroom.  
“Keep quiet and behave, please.” The door creaked shut.  
The moment students heard the click, the room came to life. The two students at the back put their feet up on desks and began talking animatedly. Without breaking eye contact with his phone screen Sips lifted his phone to rest it on the desk, and Tom turned to Xephos who’d just put down his pencil with a sigh.  
“Hey, uh, I really wanted to apologize. For getting you detention and stuff.”  
Xephos smiled politely. Tom was clearly embarrassed, and Xephos didn’t want to make him any more uncomfortable.  
“It was my choice,” he reassured Tom. “I didn’t have to do anything, I just wanted to make sure that you were going to be fine. Can’t have you getting expelled on the second day, can we. I’d miss you too much.”  
Xephos laughed and nudged Tom playfully in the shoulder. Tom didn’t meet his eyes, and his face went red.  
“W-well…” Tom stuttered, “Thanks f-for doing that. Uh, it means a lot.”  
An uncomfortable quiet settled between them, while Sips continued to tap away obliviously on his cell phone.  
Xephos felt tired. He couldn’t seem to get anything in order right now. He’d tried to find Lomadia this morning but gave up without really trying. The truth was he didn’t think he had the energy to talk to her right now. He knew they had to make up for their fight, but he didn’t feel ready yet. He still felt let down by her actions.  
Spending time with friends was exactly what he needed right now, and even though detention wasn’t the most fun, it still meant he wasn’t alone.  
The truth was that he had no idea why he had stepped in to help Tom out, and it made him uncomfortable thinking about it. Usually he’d have kept out of it entirely. Maybe it was some kind of badass Xephos emerging from within himself, wanting to get in trouble because he’d spent so much of his life being the perfect child. Maybe it was just him feeling down on himself, and thinking praise from his friends for doing a good deed would made him feel better. Or maybe it was the relieved smile he got to see on Tom’s face. There were too many things running laps in his mind, and he had to get them out.  
He turned to Tom again.  
“Hey, Tom, we’re friends right?”  
Tom turned to him, his face the colour of a summer sunset.  
“Yeah. I mean, I hope so.” A weak smile.  
Xephos laughed.  
“Okay good, because I really need somebody to talk to right now, and if you’re available to listen I’d really appreciate it.”  
Tom shrugged. “What kind of monster would I be if I let you deal with stuff by yourself? Besides, neither of us are going anywhere any time soon.”  
“You’re not wrong there.”  
An uncomfortable moment of quiet passed before Xephos took a long breath and began speaking quietly.  
“Lomadia and I have been together a long time now, and I really think I love her, but lately it’s been getting harder and harder to put so much effort into our relationship and getting nothing back. I feel like she’s not trying any more. But that’s not fair, because I know that she cares, I guess I just don’t feel like I used to. Like, on one hand I feel like my feelings haven’t diminished, and I’m happy to say I’m still in love, but these doubts keep nagging away at me so on the other hand I feel like perhaps our relationship has run its course and maybe we weren’t actually meant to be with each other.”  
Tears filled Xephos’ eyes, but he continued.  
“I want to still love her. My god I want to love her like you don’t even know. But my heart just isn’t in it anymore, I don’t think, and forcing myself to be in love just isn’t working out very well for either of us. I don’t know if she feels the same because it feels like every time we’re together we have to be in ‘relationship mode’ and big long sit down talks aren’t really a thing we ever did, and I don’t have the guts to start one because I’m afraid she’ll immediately know something is wrong and if she thinks that then she’ll think I’m giving up on her without even giving me a chance to speak, and I don’t want to put her through that. I don’t want her to feel this way. Everything is a mess right now, and I just don’t know what to do about it. My love life is in pieces but we just keep pretending that everything is okay because it’s easier to deal with that way. I don’t know what to do, Tom.”  
Xephos broke down, tears streaming down his face, as he grabbed Tom by the arms and put his head under his chin.  
Sips had raised his head soon after Xephos began talking, and now he made awkward eye contact with Tom before returning to his phone.  
“Uh…”  
Tom didn’t know what to say. He was upset with himself, because he was almost happy that Xephos was having trouble, because he came to him for help and comfort, and that made Tom feel happy. He wanted to tell Xephos to give up on Lomadia, because the fallout might mean that he got to spend more time with him, and that was something he very much wanted to do. But he knew that he couldn’t say anything like that in good conscience.  
“Um, I think… That maybe you need to really talk to her. If you feel like this then you need to talk it out. Maybe it will just be in your head, and once you get talking again you’ll fall back in love and everything will be fine. You can’t know how she feels without her telling you. I think you’re both gonna be fine.”  
As Tom finished the sentence, he felt a pang of jealousy run through his heart.  
Xephos brushed the tears from his eyes and smiled, pulling away from Tom.  
“God, that’s enough of that. I’m so sorry, Tom, I don’t know what came over me.”  
Tom looked away, suddenly the zipper of his backpack was very interesting.  
“No problem,” he mumbled. “I’m here for you.”  
Xephos smiled again, confused about Tom’s different behavior, slightly concerned that perhaps he had said too much and Tom now felt uncomfortable.  
He looked at him a moment longer before returning to his work.

That evening, the sound of Sip’s phone buzzing penetrated the silence of his bedroom, and he woke with a start. He’d fallen asleep at the desk in his bedroom, dull math homework now covered in drool laying all over the table top.  
He spotted Sjin’s name on the call ID, and moved quickly to answer.  
“Hey babe, what’s happening?” He said, stifling a yawn.  
“Not a whole lot, Sips my boy. I was wondering if you were busy tonight? Like, now perhaps?”  
Sips glanced at the clock on his bedroom wall. 8pm.  
“Aw, well, you know me Sjin, I’ve really got to get ahead with all this homework and stuff, I’m not sure I can just brush it aside. But assuming I can put it off until tomorrow, which is very unlikely, obviously, what did you have in mind? Movie?”  
He heard Sjin laughing quietly.  
“Not quite,” Sjin said, laughter still evident in his voice. “Perhaps something more exciting? Like an excursion to my parent’s beach house?”  
Sips’ smile grew until it reached from ear to ear.  
“I certainly like the sound of that. I mean, did you want to spend the whole night there because I have quite a few things I could pack for... entertainment.”  
“Just bringing yourself is fine, I have to be home by midnight because I really need sleep for tomorrow, but I just need to see you. I miss all the alone time we had over the summer.”  
“Me too babe.” Sips said, his heart twisting. “So, are you picking me up?”  
“I’m outside right now. Suprise!”  
Sips hung up the phone and ran downstairs, waving a quick goodbye to his mother and promising to return by midnight. He reached Sjin’s car and threw himself over the passenger seat, giving Sjin a passionate kiss before buckling himself up.  
“Let’s ride!”  
Sjin decided on taking the scenic route through town, enjoying the drive with Sips. As per usual, the moment Sips was seated comfortably he plugged his phone into the AUX and began playing music at a volume that was always pressing the limit of Sjin’s shitty speakers.  
The two boys drove around many blocks, singing their lungs out to a whole lot of 90’s rock anthems. Sips had his hands around a non-existent mic the whole time, singing to Sjin most of the time, and every time there was a spare moment Sjin would throw a glance Sips’ way and laugh. Happiness filled the car like water, until both boys were drowning in it, smiles brighter than the midday sunshine.  
Just before Sjin’s ears burst from Sips’ tone deaf rendition of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, he pulled his car into an alleyway near his parent’s beach house and turned the car off. Sips continued to sing regardless, albeit a little quieter, finishing as they approached the mailbox.  
The house was a large, two storey high building, it’s appearance very modern, all straight lines and fancy brickwork. You could hear the lap of the waves on the shoreline from the front door, peaceful and calming.  
Sjin walked up to the statue of a frog in a hawaiian shirt, greeting guests of the house, and lifted it up to reveal…  
“Fuck me, they moved the key.” Sjin said angrily, placing the frog back on the path.  
Sips laughed hard while Sjin glared at him.  
“It’s not actually that funny, Sips. What the hell are we supposed to do now?”  
Sips wiped tears from his eyes.  
“Babe, it’s fine.” He looked around the well trimmed lawn. “Grab me that thin stick there, I’ll get us inside.”  
Sjin looked unsure for a moment, before skipping across the damp grass to pick it up while Sips began making his way along the side of the house.  
Soon, Sips found a window that was ever so slightly cracked open, obviously forgotten by Sjin’s parents last time they’d left. Grabbing the stick from Sjin’s hands, he began to work the end into the small gap, attempting to flick the locking handle open.  
Sjin began fidgeting, glancing around the deserted street for any signs of life. He was terrified of being caught, of what it would mean if he was found doing this kind of thing. What it would mean for Sips.  
With one final push, Sips finally opened the window, albeit with a little damage to the rubber around the window edges. He shot a wicked grin at Sjin.  
“Come on, gimme your leg and I’ll help you up.”  
Sjin places a kiss on his boyfriend’s mouth before accepting the offer and tumbling into the house, arriving on the floor of the office in a heap.  
He made his way to the lounge, dimming the lights for a romantic setting, and he heard Sips fall loudly onto a desk followed quickly by a string of curses.  
Sjin walked back into the office to find Sips brushing himself off. He gave Sjin a shy smile, before taking his boyfriend’s outstretched hand and making their way to the lounge.  
It wasn’t long before clothing found its way to the floor, and cries of pleasure began ringing through the house.

Sips was in the lounge, slipping his jeans back on as Sjin walked naked out of the steamy bathroom. He eyed him across the room.  
“You’re looking pretty good this evening, my friend..”  
Sjin modestly covered himself with his hands, and feigned embarrassment.  
“I would thank you to not, sir!” Sjin replied, laughing at his own medieval accent and high voice.  
Once the pair were clothed again, Sjin walked to the kitchen.  
“Do you want something to drink? My parents have a pretty wicked wine selection.”  
Sips sat on the arm of the sofa and looked thoughtful.  
“I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to drive with alcohol in your system. Or was that law abolished while I wasn’t looking?”  
Sjin giggled as he perused the bottles on the rack.  
“I’ll just have a glass, I’ll still be under the limit, and then maybe we can go for a second round…”  
He trailed off.  
“Fuck, Sips, turn the lights off.”  
Sips looked up lazily.  
“I thought you wanted to have the drink first?” He said with a smile.  
“No, Sips, seriously get the lights now. There’s a police car heading this way with its lights going.”  
Sips bolted up and ran across the room, while Sjin crouched down on the kitchen floor. The lights went out, but the boys could see relatively well with the assistance of the street lights.  
“Holy fuck we’re dead.” Sjin whispered, as the police car pulled into the driveway.  
“Somebody must have seen us in the house.”  
“Calm down,” Sips whispered back. “There is nothing to actually suggest anybody was actually here right? So let’s just hide until they leave again. Where’s the best spots?”  
Sjin looked at his boyfriend with wide eyes for a moment, before grabbing his hand and running upstairs, taking them two at a time, to the spare bedroom.  
Just as they entered, they heard a policeman climbing in through the window, evidently not wanting to break the door.  
Without words, Sjin crept under the bed while Sips dove into the empty closet, both teens breathing heavily, hearts racing.  
For a few minutes they heard the police checking everything downstairs and a small hope formed; That the police would leave once they found nothing missing.  
Footsteps on the staircase dashed any hopeful feeling just moments later. They could hear voices now, too quiet to make out the words.  
Sips froze as he saw a body enter the room through the slats of the closet door.  
He placed his hand over his mouth to stifle his breathing, hoping Sjin was doing the same. The man was in a blue uniform, and he walked around the room checking that the windows were all sealed properly before getting on his knees to check under the bed.  
Sips’ heart stopped, knowing that there would be dire consequences if Sjin was caught. He built up all his courage, and shut his eyes.  
He opened the closet door, with his hands raised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, about the lack of Sjips smut. We decided between us that there would only be smut when we feel like the intimacy actually adds to the story. We didn't want to do smut for the sake of smut, so sorry to anybody who feels like they're missing out there.  
> Otherwise, as usual, feel free to leave a comment about what you think of the direction of the story, and thank you very much for reading. :)


	6. When everything comes crashing down, you're all I know

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a bit of low-key Sjips smut this chapter.

Sjin watched in horror as Sips was marched out of the room. Minutes passed and Sjin still refused to breathe properly. Five minutes after he heard the front door shut, he finally got himself up from under the bed, breathing heavily and shaking like a leaf. He took a moment to gather his thoughts, before running out of the house to his car.  
He fumbled with the keys, glancing up and down the road constantly, worried about more police arriving. Relief flooded his body when he finally got the door open, falling down onto the seat in emotional exhaustion.  
His head rested in his hands while sobs wracked his body. Realizing that he had to be home before his parents noticed he was still out, he wiped the tears from his eyes and turned the car on, still looking about warily.  
He drove home as fast as could, tears still blurring the road before him.  
The house was dark when he got back, his parents had gone to bed hours before, so he quietly parked up his car and snuck upstairs, quickly undressing and getting into bed, as if nothing had happened.  
He only realized that he was still crying when he felt the damp pillowcase against his face. Worry for Sips churned his stomach like nothing he’d ever felt. This was all his fault, this was a disaster, the whole night had been a mistake.  
The ringing of the telephone broke him out of his thoughts, and he pulled the covers up over his head and tried to calm his breath, while he heard his Dad grumbling angrily as the man made his way downstairs to answer the phone.  
Sjin shut his eyes tight, trying to wish the situation away. Still trying to relax as best he could, in an attempt to appear asleep if anybody was to come in.  
He heard the quiet tone as the phone was hung up.  
Footsteps on the stairs.  
Sjin released a deep breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding, as the footsteps passed his doorway. The relief didn’t last long, his father had woken his mother and now the two sets of footsteps made their way back to his bedroom.  
The door burst open, swinging into Sjin’s bookshelf, and his father entered, looking very, very angry.  
“What the FUCK is going on, Sjin?”  
Their son rose slowly, rubbing his eye, putting on a well rehearsed performance of waking up.  
“Huh? Dad? What’s going on?”  
His father walked over and stood above the bed menacingly, while his mother stayed in the doorway, arms folded, fixing Sjin with a stern gaze.  
“Don’t give me this bullshit son. Your ‘boyfriend’”, he spat the word out with venom, “Was just caught after breaking into our holiday home. How long have you been home? Have you seen him tonight? Was this your idea?”  
Sjin put his hands up in a gesture that he hoped would placate his parents before answering.  
“I don’t even know what the time is, but I was here when you guys were still up, I snuck by Mum brushing her teeth in the bathroom.” He lied. “Yes, I’ve seen him tonight, but he said he had plans so we split early. I don’t know what he’s done, but I’m sure there was a reasonable explanation.”  
Sjin knew that he was throwing Sips in the deep end here, but there was no point in both of them going down, and Sjin knew this would be exactly what Sips wanted. Take all the blame to save his boyfriend.  
“There had better be a fucking good reason for it.” Sjin’s Dad said, raising his arms in the air.  
There was a knock at the door.  
Sjin’s father mumbled a string of curses as he made his way to the front of the house. Sjin’s mother didn’t move a muscle, staring her son down as if he’d murdered somebody in front of her very own eyes.  
“Sjin, could you come downstairs please,” his father called from their living room. With a small nod from his mother, Sjin got up and walked downstairs in nothing but his pajama bottoms. He walked slowly, scared of what was to come. So many things could go wrong right now, his whole life was at stake.  
He didn’t make eye contact with anybody as he made his way across the room to sit in a leather couch alone, with his father on one side of him and two police officers on the other.  
The female cop rested a hand on Sjin’s shoulder.  
“Hi Sjin. We were just talking to your father, and I’m afraid we’ve got some bad news. Earlier this evening, your boyfriend was caught breaking into your parents house near the beach. He did some damage to a window getting in, but as far as we can tell nothing was taken. He told the officers who apprehended him that he was just looking for some alcohol, apparently he’d had a difficult afternoon. We don’t believe he meant any real harm, but it is going to be up to your parents whether or not to press charges.” She glanced over to Sjin’s father.  
With a dramatic sigh, he looked at Sjin with false compassion.  
“As parents, we understand that kids, especially of this age, make mistakes. I haven’t spoken to my wife yet, but I’m sure we'll both agree to waive any charges as long as he pays for the damage he caused. Does that sound reasonable, Sjin?”  
Sjin didn’t meet his father's eyes.  
“Yes sir,” he mumbled.  
Both the officers smiled, glad that there would be no further issue. The male stood up and shook Sjin’s father’s hand and thanked him for being so understanding. Once they were out of the door, Sjin rushed back to bed as fast as he could, keen to get away before his father got a hold of him to enquire about the night’s events further.  
He picked his phone up from the nightstand and text Sips.  
“Why”  
After hitting send, Sjin stared at the single word, willing Sips to reply. Was he in a cell? Did he have to stay there overnight? Did they take away his phone?  
Just as he was falling asleep, his phone vibrated softly.  
“You know why. I’m not letting you go through that any more. I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
Sjin kept his sobs quiet as he drifted off to sleep.

Memories plagued Sips. Made his heart tighten until he found it hard to breathe. There was no way Sjin was ever going to deal with that kind of shit again. His mind wandered to the first time.

Sips’ lips raised goosebumps on Sjin’s neck.  
Sjin’s hands made their way under Sips’ shirt and roamed over his chest, pulling him closer one minute and pushing him away the other.  
Lips locked, pressing hard with a need neither teen had ever felt before.  
Sjin pressed his nose against his boyfriend’s, and stared into his blue eyes as their tongues explored. Sips put his hand at the base of Sjin’s neck, pulling him closer and forcing Sjin to arch his back in pleasure.  
Soon, Sips’ hands found their way to the bottom of Sjin’s shirt, and began lifting. Sjin giggled and broke the kiss, his hands forcing his shirt back down.  
“What’s wrong?” Sips’ asked, breathing heavy.  
Sjin looked him in the eye, studying him. “Nothing.”  
Sips began lifting his shirt again. “Good,” he whispered into Sjin’s neck.  
The brunette sat up, pressing his boyfriend off of him. “Please, don’t.”  
Questions buzzed in Sips head. “What’s the matter? I’ve never taken you for having a thing about your body. You’re the most confident person I know.”  
Sjin looked away, he was nervous about something. “There’s this thing, Sips. And I’ve never told a soul because, it’s really complicated and people draw conclusions too quickly, and I really like you and I don’t want you to just turn and run and…”  
Sips put his hands either side of Sjin’s face, but he still refused to look him in the eye.  
“Listen to me,” Sips said forcefully. “I’m not running. I’m not going anywhere. I love you, and there is no power in this world that will take me away, okay?”  
Sjin didn’t even crack a smile. In fact, his eyes became wet. “It’s really easy to say all these things, but reality is different. In reality people don’t get happy ever afters because reality is so much more complicated than people ever know.”  
Neither teen looked at each other.  
Sips grabbed his boyfriend’s hand with determination. “If you change your mind…” He began.  
Sjin looked at him in confusion.  
“I’m the first in line....”  
Sjin’s eyes widened in realization.  
“No, Sips, no.”  
“Baby I’m still free,”  
Sjin pulled his hands away from Sips and covered his face.  
“NO!”  
Sips dove onto Sjin, pinning him to the bed and whispered in his ear.  
“Take a chance on me.”  
The teens wrestled playfully for a while, Sjin gnawing on Sips’ arm that was tickling his sides, laughing together.  
Sips grabbed the bottom of Sjin’s shirt and gave him a questioning look. The giggling died away, and they sat making eye contact in the silence for a good minute before Sjin gave his boyfriend a barely perceptible nod.  
Slowly, Sips lifted the shirt, revealing the smooth skin of Sjin’s chest. He reached down to run his hands across it, as gently as he could, while Sjin sat in silence next to him.  
“You’re beautiful,” Sips whispered reverently, continuing to raise the shirt until he spotted the marks. Scars and bruises in assorted colors coated his back like a second skin, and Sips was lost for words.  
“What…?”  
Sjin stood up and threw his shirt back on, embarrassed tears falling from his face.  
“No!” Sips said, almost yelling. He stood up and pressed himself against his boyfriend, holding him close. Sjin began to sob, his body shaking with every inhale.  
Sips whispered in his ear, soothing him until he had calmed down. Once Sjin was ready, they both sat down on the bed and Sjin told Sips everything.  
His parents, when they were displeased with his behavior, would hit him with anything they could find. His father’s favourite was the belt, his mother’s the wooden spoon. It began when he was only seven years old, and he guessed it worked fairly well because he was terrified of being in trouble, of doing things wrong now, and it forced him to excel at school. Sjin tried his best to reason that it was okay, that it was making him a better person.  
Sips just listened, tearing up himself. When Sjin was finished, Sips held him close again. Told him that he would take care of him. Told him that no matter what, he could rely on Sips to make sure he was okay. Always.  
They made love for the first time that night, and Sjin had never felt more content in his entire life than with Sips inside of him, moaning as he thrust in again and again. Sjin laughed and cried and screamed, all his twisted emotion released until both teens were a sprawled mess of limbs on Sjin’s bed, breathing heavy with a sense of satisfaction permeating the entire room.  
Sips smiled at him.  
Sjin smiled back.  
“Round two?”

The day after the break in, Sjin drove to school. He looked out for Sips, but couldn’t find him anywhere. Worry crept over his entire body, holding any sense of hope hostage.  
That is, until walking across the lot towards the school’s gate, he saw his boyfriend.  
Sips stood with just one of his backpack straps over his shoulder, looking out across the car park.  
“Sips!” Sjin yelled, beginning to run to him.  
Sips’ face brightened at the sight of his boyfriend, and he stood with arms open, letting Sjin fall into them before holding him close, tears in the eyes of both partners.  
“I’m so sorry,” cried Sjin into Sips’ shoulder.  
Sips held his boyfriend’s face. “Are you safe?” He asked, seriously.  
Sjin sniffled and looked up at Sips with a smile. “Yes, but…”  
“Then there is nothing you need to apologize for. As long as you are okay, I’m happy.”  
The pair locked lips, before the bell rang and they ran into the school, hand in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Big Reveal has been revealed.  
> As usual, we love feedback, let us know what you think, and we hope you enjoyed. :)


	7. Another High, Another Low

Trott called out to Sjin, desperate to make contact with somebody, anybody but the three stocky boys making their way towards him.  
Unfortunately, Sjin spotted Sips first and began running towards him, feet barely touching the ground as he sprinted into the arms of his lover. Trott looked out across the mostly empty school entrance, back towards the boys that were still making their way towards him with menacing grins on their faces.  
He decided to run, he turned on his heel and ran towards a nearby alleyway. The boys noticed and began whooping and jeering, excited for the chase. Trott's legs were moving as fast as they could take him, down the alley and into the park. It was a nice morning, clouds were covering the sun but there was plenty of blue sky visible, and a sweet breeze moved against Trott's body until he took a sharp left through a hedge in a desperate attempt to escape his ever-nearing pursuers.  
It turned out to be a bad choice.  
He found himself at the top of a steep hill covered in fallen leaves, and twisted his ankle painfully upon his first footfall. He cringed and automatically curled into a ball in pain, rolling down the rest of the hill. Bruised but otherwise unharmed, he brushed himself off and looked up the hill, waiting for the three to work out he'd come this way. He stayed still for about a minute listening carefully. Eventually, he decided he was safe and began limping back towards the rear entrance of the school.  
He didn't even see the leg shoot out from behind a tree, tripping him up. He fell to the ground with a grunt, and looked up to find what he wanted to see least. The three had found him.

Zylus walked with a spring in his step down a forested path. He was finally going to be starting school! Due to some kind of administrative error, he had been unable to begin class until today. He'd spent both Monday and Tuesday moping around the house while his parents were at work, eating and lazing in the lounge most of the day.  
But now, today, this was it. He'd finally be going to an actual school, with other students. He'd spent his whole life home schooled due to the fact that his father used to be a lumberjack in the north, and it was too impractical to send him the two hour journey to and from school each day. Instead, his mother had stayed home and taught him everything he'd ever need to know, and he had the utmost respect for her. Both his parents, in fact. They gave up their whole life there when Zylus asked to spend his senior year in a 'real' school. It was only a month before they had set the plan in motion to move down, and Zylus couldn't be more thrilled.  
He wanted to make friends desperately, and wondered what the students would be like. All he could imagine was standard high school cliches, because that was all he'd ever known, from film and television.  
He was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost missed the cry of pain from a large bush nearby. He ran over to check it out and was immediately furious at what he saw. Three large boys, punching and kicking an obviously younger and smaller boy while tears ran down his face as he begged them to stop. They were only landing blows on his chest and legs, to avoid any obvious signs of the abuse.  
"Hey Scrot,"  
"Pussy boy, are you fucking crying?"  
"You're so fucking pathetic," followed by a high, whiny laugh.  
Before he knew what he was doing, Zylus was throwing himself towards the scuffle, his hands in tight fists at his sides. He pulled the largest boy around and punched him, a glancing blow off of a fat cheek.  
"Who the fuck are you?"  
All three bullies stopped their onslaught and stared Zylus down, uncertainty in their eyes.  
Zylus spoke softly. "Go away." He pointed back to the path he'd been on.  
"Or what, faggot?" Clearly it was the leader of the group speaking. The only one with the courage to speak, unsure of this new kid.  
Zylus just looked at him.  
"Ugh, can't even speak. He's probably autistic or something. Come on guys, we can't hurt a retard." With a gesture, the three retreated, only once stealing back a glance at the odd stranger.  
When they had gone, Zylus reached a hand out to the boy, still curled in a ball. He took it.  
"Uh, thanks," he said, with a sniffle.  
Zylus smiled widely at him.   
"Not a problem, friend. Are you okay?"  
The boy looked at him hard. "I'm fine, look it's not that I don't appreciate you helping me and all that, but you really didn't have to. I need to get to school, so I gotta go."  
As he turned to go, Zylus grabbed his arm and the small boy flinched. Zylus released his grip and spoke with regret.   
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have... I have to get to school to, it's my first day today you see and..."  
"Right," he interrupted.  
"Sorry, I don't want to seem rude but I really do have to go, could you just maybe not tell anybody about this? People don't need to know."  
With a nod from Zylus, the boy took off towards the path with a small limp.  
"My name's Zylus, by the way!" He called after him.  
The boy turned to look at him with piercing brown eyes and a small smile.  
"Trott."  
Then he was gone.

Honeydew waited patiently outside the school grounds, keeping a keen eye out for the new student. As the student representative it was his responsibility to handle the introduction of a new student to the operations of the school. He hoped it wasn't another goth kid. He had already dealt with far too many of those.  
Not that he was prejudiced against them, they just tended to be more difficult to handle.  
Soon he spotted Zylus and gave him a wave, the new kid waltzing up comfortably with an outstretched hand.  
Suffice to say Honeydew was impressed, and shook the boy's hand firmly with a grin plastered on his face.  
"Pleasure to meet you," said Honeydew.  
"And the same to you," Zylus replied.   
"I figured it was you, the lady I spoke to at the admission meeting said look for the ginger hair."  
Honeydew raised a hand to his head and touched his hair gently.   
"You got it on the nose, buddy. Come with me, I'll show you to your locker."  
Honeydew hadn't even taken a step before Nano was upon him, jumping up and down with both of her hands on his shoulders.  
"Dew-man!" She said loudly.   
"Is this the new kid? He's cute, look at his little nose."  
Nano reached out and tapped Zylus on the nose. He went cross eyed trying to follow her finger.  
Seeing that Zylus was (relatively) unfazed, Honeydew began introductions.  
"Nano, this is Zylus. Zylus, this is Nano. Don't run too far away, I promise all the students aren't quite as... Eccentric." He turned to face Nano, looking dramatically over her shoulder.   
"And where is Lalna?"  
Zylus stretched out a hand, but Nano had already run away to drag Lalna into the school yard. He'd been walking at a pace far too slow for Nano's liking, apparently. He flicked blonde hair out of his eyes and took Zylus' still outstretched hand.  
"Nice to meet you," he said with a smile.  
The four stood for a while, Zylus introducing himself properly while Nano buzzed around happily. Honeydew spotted Xephos making his way quickly across the courtyard and beckoned him closer.  
He altered his course only slightly to intersect their position and gave a quick wave and a smile, never stopping walking.  
"Hi I'm Xephos you're Zylus nice to meet you but I'm in a rush see you later."  
Honeydew looked after him curiously, just as the bell rang.  
Lalna and Nano said their goodbyes and made their way inside.  
"Darn it all," Honeydew said, "We didn't get to your locker."  
Honeydew pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.   
"Take this, it's a map of the school. I've marked your locker and all your classes on there. Up first is English, which is straight into that building there," he pointed,   
"First door on the left."  
Zylus gave him an appreciating smile.   
"Thank you so much, Honeydew."  
"Not a problem, kiddo. Just come find me at lunch, I'll be in the common room. Unless of course Nano gets to you first, whatever works for you. Have a great day."  
Zylus thanked him again and then began walking towards his first class.  
Honeydew smiled after him, then turning his thoughts inwards. Xephos was making his way out of the school, just before class begins. That could only mean trouble, and after all the firework bollocks Honeydew didn't want to see his friend start spiralling.  
For the second time that day, before he'd taken even a single step, he was interrupted.  
"Honeydew." said Tom.  
"Tom." Said Honeydew.  
"..."  
"..."  
"Have you seen Xephos?" Tom asked, worry creasing his brow.  
"Uh," Honeydew began.   
"No. Not since yesterday."  
He didn't know why he lied to Tom, but there was something like an instinct. Or perhaps it was just Honeydew being selfish, wanting to help Xephos himself.  
"Oh," Tom said, obviously crestfallen.   
"I think he's avoiding me. If you see him, could you ask?"  
Honeydew smiled,   
"Of course. Now we both need to get to class. Move it."  
Tom shot him a smile before running into the building.  
After checking to make sure nobody was watching, Honeydew took a few quick steps to the gate, and was too busy looking backwards to notice Xephos before he walked straight into him. Both teens were stunned.  
Once they got their wits back, Honeydew spoke first.  
"I was just looking for you,"  
Xephos' eyes darted around behind Honeydew, looking for signs of teachers spotting the stragglers.   
"Okay. Look, we really need to get to class."  
"I know, but look, you seem really stressed out lately. If you need to talk, I'm still here."  
Xephos looked him dead in the eyes with sadness.   
"I know. I'm sorry we've been so out of touch lately. Do you wanna come over after school?" He offered.  
Honeydew rested a hand on his friend's shoulder.  
"I'd love to. I'll go home and make us something for afternoon tea, and then I'll be there."  
Xephos smiled, and Honeydew could have sworn there was a tear in his friend's eye.  
"Thanks man. I'll see you then."  
Then, with classes on opposite sides of the school, the teens separated.  
Honeydew wore a grin. He was glad for the chance to reconnect with Xephos, after spending mostly all of summer apart.  
He missed his best friend.

Rythian threw his backpack to the floor none too gently and took a seat. English first was just the worst. It was the subject he struggled with the most and having it this early in the morning was just unfair.  
Add that to his emotional state and he was just a mess. Zoey wouldn't leave the back of his mind, and he didn't know how to get rid of her. She was just always there, taunting him. He was stuck with the knowledge that he wasn't good enough for her.  
Not good enough.  
Not good enough.  
He should've been able to make her happy, and be made happy by her. It was fine in the beginning, he didn't know what had gone wrong.  
He was so lost in his thoughts he didn't even notice that the seat next to him had been filled by a kid he didn't recognise. Until that kid leaned over and gave Rythian a hello with an accompanying outstretched hand.  
Rythian jumped, startled. He hesitantly took his hand.  
"Name's Zylus," the boy said with a grin.  
His enthusiasm was almost painful.  
"Rythian," he replied quietly. Zylus didn't even notice that he was uneasy.  
"So, Rythian, what's this class like? Is the teacher nice? Who are the bad kids? Do I need to stay away from anybody?" He just had a never ending stream of questions which Rythian answered with patience.  
Their teacher soon arrived and introduced Zylus properly to the class, and it seemed Zylus found the time to shake hands with every single person over the course of the lesson.  
Rythian watched this strange boy carefully, as he eagerly spoke to everybody, and greeted them like he was a forty year old man; with a handshake. What was up with that?  
For the course of the lesson Zylus continued talking with Rythian, asking about everything from his family to his favourite food. Rythian soon realized that he was enjoying himself. Zylus was a fun person. The bell rang, and while Rythian was packing up his things Zylus was still talking to him with a non-stop stream of questions.  
Instead of answering these, Rythian asked him what he was doing for lunch.  
"Well, I'm supposed to be meeting Honeydew if I don't make any friends, but I'm sure I will."  
Rythian almost... Blushed?  
"Do you want to eat with me? I can meet you out at the front courtyard, if you want."  
Zylus' smile ran ear to ear, showing off his whiter than white teeth.  
"That sounds awesome, I'll see you there, Rythian."  
With that, Zylus took off out of the classroom, excitedly making his way to his next class.  
Rythian stared after him for a moment, before following him out at a far slower pace. As he made his way down the hall to his next class, a realization struck Rythian.  
He hadn't thought about Zoey the whole class.

Smith sat down at the table with his lunch bag. For some reason he seemed to always be the first of the boys here. He took out his sandwich and took a large bite.  
The moment he laid eyes on Trott and Ross making their way towards him he blushed heavily. Every time he saw them he couldn't get the image of that night out of his head, and as such he felt an uncomfortable pressure at the front of his jeans.  
Trott and Ross were quickly seated and started on their own lunch. Smith and Ross talked animatedly between them, but Trott was oddly quiet. The other two soon noticed.  
"Trott mate, are you okay?" Smith asked softly.  
He looked up from his yoghurt. "Yeah, fine."  
Ross shot Smith a concerned glance.  
"Trott, is this about... You know. Did you not want to or someth..."  
Trott interrupted quickly.   
"No, absolutely I wanted to, it was great. It's not about that at all."  
The two older boys looked at him expectantly.  
"I just uh, I've been thinking and I think it's time to, uh, maybe, tell our parents? I'm just sick of hiding it, is all."  
Ross looked stunned, while Smith just gave Trott a kind smile.  
"Of course. I've been thinking about it too. I think they should know."  
They turned to look at Ross for a response. Things were moving through his head too quickly.  
"Yeah, absolutely. Let's do it."  
Trott gave a small smile.  
"Cool. Shall we all do it Friday night?"  
Smith nodded his head eagerly, while Ross just mumbled a quiet agreement.  
They all went back to eating, quieter than before. Smith didn't know what was going on with his boyfriends, but something was definitely up with each of them, both had receded into their own thoughts.  
Suddenly, Smith felt a hand rest gently on his shoulder.  
"Hey boys, what's with the silence?" A familiar voice said.  
Strippin.  
"Oh, hey," Smith said with a smile. The other two just mumbled some kind of greeting.  
"Well," said Strippin,   
"Aren't you all just the picture of a perfect relationship."  
Smith looked at his boyfriends.  
"Yeah, sorry about them. Uh, bad day."  
Strippin looked Smith up and down with a sly smile.   
"Clearly not for you. Anyway, if all of you get your cheer back, in a couple of weeks I'm gonna be having my birthday party. It's gonna be huge, and you're all welcome to come. I hope you guys can make it."  
With a lack of response from the other two, Smith leaned in close and thanked Strippin for the invite, asking him to ignore the other two.  
Strippin gave him his most understanding smile and rested his hand on his shoulder.  
"No worries, have a good one."  
Smith sat back down as Strippin walked away.  
"Did you guys really have to be so rude?" Smith asked with a sigh.  
The other two still didn't say a word, lost in their own thoughts.

Honeydew had brought savoury pastries he'd cooked himself. Xephos' favourite.  
While they sat in Xephos' room and ate, Honeydew was filled in on all the drama with Lomadia. Xephos' concerns that it was only a matter of time before they broke up in a huge fight, and his whole life caved in.  
Honeydew just listened, like he'd always done, happy to be the one Xephos could trust with all of these things.  
Once he'd finished, Honeydew just told him that everything would work itself out.  
They sat in silence for quarter of an hour just thinking, like they had done when they were kids. It was nice to finally be spending time together again. This friendship had been missed by both parties.  
Eventually though, it was time for Honeydew to leave and Xephos lead him to the door slowly, not wanting him to leave.  
Just before Xephos closed the door, Honeydew remembered.  
"One more thing," he said.   
"I saw Tom today, he was wondering if you'd been avoiding him. I didn't even know you guys knew each other that well."  
Xephos wouldn't meet his eyes.  
"Yeah, well, we were kind of close for a while."  
"But not anymore?"  
"Not really."  
Honeydew looked confused. "What happened?"  
Xephos shut his eyes tight. Thinking about all of these painful feelings in his head, spinning around like a hurricane.  
"I think I like him."  
The words just fell out.  
Honeydew laughed. "Well yes, if you're friends with somebody you generally like them."  
Their eyes met, and tears filled Xephos'.  
"Oh," said Honeydew.  
"Oh no."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another chapter. As always we really appreciate any comments and kudos. We couldn't be happier with the responses we have had so far! Thanks guys and we hope you keep enjoying the fic! xoxoxo


	8. It's not as bad as it seems

Trott lay on his bed, running over all the possible outcomes in his head.  
This was it, the night he explained his relationship to his parents. He fiddled with a pencil in his hands while his mind wandered.  
Had the other two done it yet? How had their parents reacted? How were his parents going to react? He didn't know how to handle a negative reaction toward something he felt so strongly about.  
He sat up, deciding even if they didn't like it, it was none of their business. He was relatively certain they wouldn't try to control his relationship, even if they didn't approve, which meant that he should have nothing at all to worry about.  
He clenched the sheets of his bed in his fists and shut his eyes tightly, slowly building up his courage. Standing, he made his way straight to the door of his bedroom, opening it to reveal his mother half way through a knock. She jumped and put a hand to her chest, startled.  
"Mum?"  
She put her hand down and giggled.  
"You almost gave me a heart attack, jeepers Trott. I was just coming to let you know dinner's almost ready, so wash up, okay?"  
Trott nodded slowly, and quietly made his way to the bathroom. His mother called after him.  
"Is everything okay? You look awfully pale sweetie."  
He raised a hand, dismissing her concerns without turning to face her.  
Trott never saw the furrow of concern on his mother's forehead.  
His heart beat like a drum in his chest as he leaned over the sink. He'd been ready to talk seriously, not have some simple conversation about hygiene before dinner, and it had sapped his confidence.  
He turned the tap on, splashing water onto his face in an attempt to calm himself before washing his hands. He looked into the mirror for some time, before he heard the clatter of cutlery from the living room and knew it was time.  
He took slow steps down the hallway, wanting to keep himself from the confrontation as long as he could. Eventually he got to the table, and sat down without making eye contact with either of his parents.  
"Trott, honey, is everything okay...." His mother began.  
He cut her off.  
"I'm dating two boys at the same time it's called a polyamorous relationship they both make me very happy and I'm glad I can be with both of them I'm sorry if you don't understand it but I feel like if you accept it then in time you will come to understand I've been really nervous about telling you because I know it sounds odd but please believe me when I say it is what I really really want because I love both of them and I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted for me but it's the way things are I still love you both very much this isn't me rebelling against you or anything I just happen to love two people who happen to be boys I'm sorry."  
He looked down at his hands, not willing to make eye contact with either of his parents.  
Unexpectedly, it was his father who spoke first.  
"Okay."  
Trott looked up at him. His father's face was just as it always was, and he gave Trott a quick smile and began on his food. Trott turned to his mother, who was glaring at her husband.  
"I think what your father means," she said kindly, "Is that we're happy with whatever your relationship stuff is. As long as you keep working hard in school and strive to make a good life for yourself, we're happy with whoever you want to date. Honestly I thought poly-army relationships were restricted to third world countries where men have twenty wives, but if it makes you happy we will both make the effort to accept you. We just want what makes you happy and keeps you safe, sweetie. Now hurry up and eat dinner, else it'll go cold."  
Trott's eyes filled with tears as he gave his mother a thankful smile, before starting on his meal.

Smith closed his laptop and looked across from his seat on the couch to his parents, cleaning up after dinner together in the kitchen, talking about their days. He watched them fondly, appreciating their happiness together. Surely, he thought, they understood love well enough to not be judgemental about a different kind.  
He had faith in them.  
He stood up and made his way into the kitchen, picking up a hand towel to help with the drying of the dishes.  
"What's this?" His father said. "Darling, I think our son might actually be... Helping? With chores?"  
"And of his own free will, too," his mother added, feigning shock and bringing a hand to her mouth.  
He nudged his mother playfully.  
"Guys there's something I want to tell you."  
Both his parents widened their eyes dramatically.  
"Uh oh, this sounds pretty serious," his father said.  
"Do we need to sit down or something?" His mother asked jokingly.  
Smith laughed, reaching to place a dried plate in a high cupboard.  
"Wait, are we allowed to guess?" His mother asked.  
He rolled his eyes at them. "Sure, guess away."  
His father looked thoughtful for a moment.  
"You're... Running away to join the circus?"  
"You want to move to Iceland because you met a girl online?"  
"You're addicted to crack cocaine and you need money to pay back a guy called Big Lennie?"  
"You've been offered twenty thousand dollars to become a skateboarding pro?"  
Smith shook his head at each guess, laughing.  
"You're coming out as a homosexual and need our love and care to adjust to your new penis-loving lifestyle?"  
Smith froze.  
"Uh, actually..."  
His mother looked at him seriously for a moment before she began to laugh.  
"No, seriously," Smith said, "I'm gay."  
His parents looked at each other. His mother spoke first.  
"Well that's a whole lot better than being addicted to crack cocaine. What a weight off our shoulders."  
His father began laughing, patting him on the shoulder.  
"Your mother is right. As long as you're not shooting up in your bedroom we're happy for you. Thanks for telling us."  
Smith smiled at them. He knew they'd be fine.  
"One other thing," he said.  
"Oooh!" His mother jumped up and down. "You're ALSO becoming a skateboarding pro? Are there already gay skateboarding pros out there?"  
Smith looked at her seriously, but a smile was still on his face. "I'm also dating two boys. At once." His mother gave him a look.   
"I'm not cheating!” He said quickly. “We're in a three-way relationship."  
Both his parents burst out laughing.  
"Guys please, this is kind of serious," Smith said, making an effort to not laugh along with them.  
His father was the one to gain control first, wiping tears from his eyes.  
"Okay, Smith, sorry. Look, we're happy with whoever you want to date, whatever genitals they have and however many of them you want to be with. It's just odd to us. We understand you're a teenager and lots of stuff goes on inside that head of yours, and there are a lot of phases you have to go through before you settle on what you want to be for the rest of your life. We're just gonna sit here and be supportive. You let us know what you're up to, and we'll be here for you, okay? Just as long as it's not dealing with Big Lennie."  
Smith wanted to argue that it wasn't just a phase, but didn't want to ruin his father's little speech. He decided that if they were going to support him, he wouldn't make a fuss about what they thought about it.  
He stood up straight and raised one hand dramatically.  
"I swear, I will stay away from Big Lennie."  
Laughter erupted from the kitchen.

Ross sat, twiddling his thumbs in his bedroom. He'd been going over and over his thoughts, trying to organise them into some kind of cohesive order so he could begin planning how to tell his parents, but the moment he grabbed at a thought it dissolved and was replaced by another.  
His mind was just a mess, and he was angry and frustrated that he couldn't do it. He figured the other two must be having at least as much trouble as he was and was comforted by the thought, but deep down he knew they were braver than he was and had probably already done the deed.  
He scrunched and rubbed his eyes until dots appeared to cover his vision.  
With a sudden burst of confidence, he ran to his door, walked towards the kitchen, stepped slowly until he was only a meter from being in front of his parents.  
His entire body froze as he listened to the quiet murmur of the television.  
He could see in his mind's eye the lounge, his mother lying on the couch with her cup of tea on the coffee table, his father reading the paper on his recliner. Both just sitting quietly, unaware of the turmoil in their son's heart.  
Ross took a step back, making a board of the floor creak loudly. He cringed, and heard his father put his paper down.  
"Ross?" He called.  
Quietly, Ross made his way back to his bedroom, ignoring his father, and opened his laptop.  
He immediately noticed the messenger was blinking, new messages in the boyfriend's group chat. He just stared at the little blue notification for a couple of minutes before opening it.

Trottimus: I told them. They were totally fine, nothing to worry about.  
Alsmiffy: Same here. They were just glad I wasn't doing drugs.  
Trottimus: Drugs?  
Alsmiffy: I said I had to tell them something. They figured it must be drugs. :P  
Trottimus: XD Makes perfect sense. Have you spoken to Ross yet?  
Alsmiffy: Nope, he hasn't been online either. ROSS. GET ONLINE.

After that there were just a bunch of messages regarding homework and the like, and a couple about plans for Strippin's party.  
Ross still sat there, feeling as though he'd let both of them down. He just couldn't do it.  
A loud bleep shook him from his concerned thoughts.

Alsmiffy: Ross? You there? It says you're online.

Ross raised his fingers to type a couple of times, but dropped them. He didn't know what to say. Finally building enough courage, he began.

djh3max: I'm here.  
Alsmiffy: Awesome! How did it go?  
djh3max: Uh, I didn't tell them. It's too much, I just can't.  
Trottimus: :(  
Alsmiffy: You can do it, we believe in you. :D  
djh3max: No, you don't understand. I just can't. Me and my parents have a good thing going, and I don't want to do anything that could fuck that up.  
Alsmiffy: I get it. But they'll support you right? You're their son, they love you no matter what.  
djh3max: I CAN'T DO IT. I'm not strong enough.  
Trottimus: What if we came over and did it together? Would that make it better?  
Alsmiffy: We can come over tomorrow night for dinner and tell them together. We're here for you, and we'll make sure nothing bad happens.  
djh3max: ...  
djh3max: Okay. Fine. I'll go ask them.  
Alsmiffy: Great! :D  
Trottimus: Is he back yet?  
Alsmiffy: Ross? I ran it by my parents, I can come.  
Trottimus: Same here. :)  
Trottimus: Is he coming back?  
djh3max: You can come over. 6pm. I'm gonna head to bed. Night.  
Alsmiffy: Goodnight. We love you.  
Trottimus: Night! We love you. <3  
Alsmiffy: I should probably head to bed too. See you tomorrow?  
Trottimus: Absolutely. See you then. :)

Ross' sleep was plagued by nightmares.  
Tomorrow was the day.

Ross’ parents sat at each end of the table, and the three boys sat along one side, with Ross in the middle, Trott nearer to Ross’ mother and Smith happily chatting away to Ross’ father.  
Ross’ mother had been busy that afternoon, cooking a very large meal for the five to share. It was pretty rare for Ross to actually have friends over, often opting to visit them rather than have them come to him, so his mother had really made an effort to impress.  
Polite conversation ran across the dinner table as they ate, Trott being extra-polite and offering to clear the table afterwards, with Smith stuck with Ross at the table.  
He’d been quiet all evening.  
Smith took his boyfriend’s hand under the table, making certain the parents wouldn't see, in an action of solidarity.  
Ross’ mother had gone to assist Trott in cleaning up, and just half an hour later they’d returned to the table making idle chit chat about school and university things.  
Ross knew the time was upon him, it was time for him to stand up and tell his parents, make them aware of his failing to be a regular teenager, explaining that he was dating not only one but both of their dinner guests. He felt his heart begin to jump, and his stomach did somersaults.  
He was going to puke.  
He stood up abruptly from the table and without a word made his way quickly to his bedroom and began to cry, curled up in a little ball on his bed. His heart wouldn’t stop beating at speed, and he felt his mind receding from reality. He didn’t want to be different. He didn’t want to be in love the way he was. He didn’t want to disappoint his parents.  
He didn’t ask to be different.

Back at the table, Ross’ parents looked questioningly at the two boys.  
“Don’t worry about him,” Trott said, faking a smile.  
“We’ll go check on him,” Smith said, standing up.  
The adults looked across the table at each other, confusion written on their faces.  
The boys made their way quickly to Ross’ room, opening the door to reveal their boyfriend, a mess on his bed.  
“Ross,” Smith said quietly, making his way to him slowly and pulling him into a hug.  
“I don’t want to do it.” Ross said quietly.  
Trott sat next to him and held his hand.  
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, you know that right?”  
Smith took his other hand.  
“We don’t mind, if you don’t tell them. You just do what you want to do, and we’ll be here for you, okay?”  
Ross looked at his boyfriends, wiping tears from his eyes with a small smile on his face.  
“They deserve to know, guys.”  
At that moment, Ross’ mother opened the door, revealing the teenagers all hand in hand.  
She stared at Ross, confused, as her husband arrived behind her. They wore matching faces.  
Ross coughed, clearing his throat.  
“Mum, Dad, these are… My boyfriends.”  
Ross’ father turned and left, mumbling.  
Tears returned to Ross’ eyes, and he began to shake as they fell from his face. Trott and Smith looked expectantly at their boyfriend’s mother.  
“Okay.” She said shortly.  
She made her way over to the bed hesitantly, before pulling Ross into a hug. He released his hands and hugged her in return.  
“Well, this comes as a little bit of a shock,” she said. “But I should be clear, there is no problem. We will be here for you no matter what, okay? Your father… It just took him by surprise is all. I’ll talk to him.”  
Ross wiped the moisture from his face.  
“Mum…”  
“Don’t worry son, everything is just fine. Don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll go talk to your father.”  
She left the room, calling for Ross’ father.  
Smith and Trott hugged their boyfriend tightly.  
“It’s done now,” Smith said softly. “You’ll never have to worry about it again.”  
Ross sat up, no more tears left, and hugged his best friends close.  
“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys are still enjoying this! Please let us know if you are and also if there is anything you think we can improve on :)


	9. The Unknown

Sips made his way through the park towards the school's bus zone, idly kicking piles of leaves he found on his way. He checked his watch. Not much time left.  
He broke into a jog that soon turned into a run, shoes pelting the ground. He couldn't be late for the bus again, his parents would kill him. A tiny voice in his head spoke up smugly:  
"If you were actually in school, in class, there would be no chance of missing the bus."  
He shook his head as he ran to clear the thoughts from his head, black hair swishing across his forehead.  
As he turned the corner, relief flooded his body. There was the bus, still waiting for a couple of straggler students to get on. He slowed his pace, trying to regain his breath.  
He was replying to a text message from Sjin when he spotted a pair of feet in front of him on the sidewalk.  
Sips winced as he took in the man's angry face. It was his homeroom teacher.  
"Interesting, don't you think Sips, that a student who was absent all day is still riding on the school bus?"  
Sips mumbled an apology and attempted to step around the man, but the teacher side-stepped and intercepted.  
"Look, I understand that you have trouble with the academic stuff, but if you don't turn up you're never gonna get better. This is senior year, the one chance you have. This is the rest of your life we're talking about here and I want to see you succeed, I really do, but you have to put in the effort. Honestly, if you don't want to be here then you're welcome leave. You can go into the workforce right now, earning money instead of spending all your time dodging classes."  
Sips shoved past the man, raising a hand to indicate to the driver he was getting on.  
A hand landed heavily on his shoulder.  
"Sips. Please, think about what you want your life to be." A sigh. "I'm going to have to call your parents to report this absence. Hope to see you tomorrow."  
Sips shrugged off his teacher's hand and made his way onto the bus, refusing to look up from his shoes until the bus was blocks away.  
What a headache.

Sips knew it was coming. He was sat in his room, doodling idly while listening to music, when over the lyrics he heard the phone ring. He turned his Ipod down until he could no longer hear the rhythm.  
The words his Mum was saying were inaudible from his bedroom, but he got the gist from her tone. He stared at the door as he heard the small "beep" of his mother hanging up the phone and began making her way towards Sips' room.  
Time slowed. He didn't want to have this conversation again, didn't want to think about any of this. It was too hard to think about, and he felt his headache returning.  
His mother knocked on the door violently and entered without waiting for a reply.  
"What the hell are you doing wagging school Sips? I asked before the year started if you wanted to go back or not, and you were adamant that you returned, so what the hell are you up to wagging? Drugs? Breaking into more houses?"  
Sips couldn't meet her eye. "No, nothing like that. I just..."  
"Just what?" She interrupted. "Just want to prove to the world how useless you can be if you put your mind to it? You have so many opportunities to better yourself and you avoid them like the plague. You need to decide if you want school or not, because if this keeps up you won’t be living here anymore. Are we clear?"  
The teen turned his back to his mother, not wanting her to see him cry like this.  
"Clear. I'll be good, I promise."  
"You'd damn well better be."  
The door slammed, and Sips fell to his bed.  
He had to pull his shit together. He was meeting Sjin in half an hour and he refused to be a total mess in front of him.  
With a sniffle and a wipe of his cheeks, Sips steeled himself. Once he felt like a small breeze couldn't turn him into an emotional mess, he picked up his backpack and ran out of the house without another word to his mother.

Sjin ran into Fort Fartface and straight into the arms of his boyfriend, both of them giggling their way through greetings.  
They sat with chips and cola, laughing their way through each other's stories of the day and funny things they'd found on the internet, happily wasting their afternoon away together.  
As the sun dipped below the horizon, Sips' face grew serious.  
"Sjin, what are you doing after this year?"  
Sjin looked at him slyly. "Hopefully I'll still be doing you. Why?"  
Sips grabbed at his boyfriend hungrily and pulled him onto his lap.  
"Not like that," he spoke into Sjin's neck, leaving a trail of kisses as Sjin arched.  
"Well," Sjin spoke between heavy breaths. "I guess I'll be applying to universities, and hopefully I'll get into a course of architecture. It's what I've wanted to do forever, but you know this."  
Sjin pulled away and looked into his boyfriend's eyes and saw all of his worries at once.  
"Oh. Sorry." Sjin said, realizing Sips’ position.  
Sips shuffled Sjin off of him and stood up, pacing.  
"Yeah, 'oh', Sjin. I'm not good at anything like you are. I'm not talented with numbers, I'm not good at writing, I don't have anything I'm passionate about. I'm just trying to buy as much time as I can with you before our lives change and we're torn apart because you're some important university guy and I'm living off of a couch."  
Sjin reached for Sips' hand, taking it carefully, not breaking eye contact.  
"You're an amazing person, Sips, and personality gets you ninety percent of the way there. The other ten percent you can work at. You just need the motivation and will to do it. No, nothing is going to be handed to you. You're gonna have to work for it. But I promise, I'm going to be with you every single step of the way, regardless of what happens after this year, supporting you. I love you, and you can do whatever you want. Life is yours for the taking."  
A single tear fell from Sips' eye, and he scrubbed at it angrily.  
"Now look what you've done." He said, smiling.  
"Sips, everything will work out." Sjin reached out and pulled Sips into a tight hug.  
"We'll work it out together."

Trott slammed his books down on the lunch table in frustration.  
Ross raised his eyebrows in inquiry and Smith smiled and took another bite from his apple.  
"Something the matter, Trott?" Ross asked as innocently as he could.  
Trott glared at him and pulled a muesli bar out of his bag.  
"I don't know what I'm doing." Trott said, violently taking bites out of his bar.  
"This isn't new to anybody, mate." Smith said with a chuckle.  
"What did that poor mix of oats and berries and chocolate ever do to you Trott?" Ross asked.  
Trott threw the remainder of the bar at Ross, who deflected it with a quick karate chop hand gesture.  
"Flinging food Trott? You're better than that. What's up?" Ross asked, a little more sincerely than earlier.  
"I don't know what I want to do after this year is over. I kinda want to take a gap year and travel a bit, but also I should really apply to a university straight away, but if I don't get accepted I'm probably just gonna need to find a job and it's all a little much."  
"You know you have all year to decide, right?" Smith said with a mouthful of apple, squirting juice onto the table with each syllable.  
"I'm aware. But so many people are already decided, and I don't even have the foggiest of what I want to do."  
Trott slammed his books down again in a show of false anger and smiled at his boyfriends.  
The sound startled Nano, and she made her way over to scold Trott playfully with over exaggerated gestures.  
They were kind of almost friends, Trott supposed. Their mothers both worked at a fancy office not far from the school, so they often found themselves walking together.  
"So Nano, what are you doing after this year?" Ross said, saving Trott from further finger-waving.  
She clearly took it as an invitation to join them, because she fell into a seat immediately adjacent to Smith and took out her lunch from her purple backpack.  
"I'm going to uni, obviously. I'm gonna study journalism so that one day I can work for like a travel agency and write articles about all the cool places in the world. What are you guys doing?"  
"Trott was just talking about how he doesn't know what he wants to do yet," Smith explained. "I myself am going to apply to this awesome graphic design course."  
"And I'm gonna go to a film school." Ross continued, beaming.  
"Great!" Trott said dramatically. "I'm literally the only one who has no idea what they're doing. Thanks for the help, guys."  
"You'll get there Trott," Nano said with kindness.  
"And if not..." Ross said.  
"... You're hot enough to be a stripper." Smith finished.  
Laughter rang through the air.

The giggles from the boys and Nano danced on the wind across to Lomadia and Nilesy, who were sitting on the grass nibbling on sandwiches Hannah's mother had made.  
Lomadia smiled at the sounds of happiness, then sighed. She hadn't laughed like that in a long time. Not with all this Xephos drama.  
Desperate to get her mind off of him, she turned to Nilesy.  
"Speaking of university," she said with a nod in the direction of the boy's table. "What are you gonna do after this year is over?"  
Nilesy pushed his glasses up his nose and looked thoughtfully into the sky.  
"Um. I'm not sure. What are you doing?"  
"I was hoping to get into a veterinary school, I'd really like to work with animals." Lomadia replied with grin.  
Nilesy seemed to mull this over for a moment before speaking again.  
"I guess that would be cool. We could go together, if you don't mind yet another year of me."  
Hannah put her arm around her best friend's shoulders.  
"That sounds amazing," she said, putting emphasis on the end of "amazing".  
She pulled away, noticing Nilesy's intent stare. She followed his gaze to Xephos, standing in the courtyard with Tom, talking animatedly.  
"Have you talked to him yet?" Nilesy asked quietly.  
"Nope. We haven't spoken since that fight, I think he's avoiding me or something. I'm not even sure I want to talk to him either, mind you."  
Lomadia looked to the ground, working through her wide range of feelings for Xephos.  
"Well, you gotta do something, sometime." Nilesy said, putting a hand on her arm.  
"I know. It doesn't look like he's going to be the one to do it, either. I don't know, he's just so... Needy. He's always trying to make dates and things happen and they always have to be big and romantic and honestly I'd be happy with just watching a movie on his couch together, you know? It's like I have to put so much more effort into going to these places when I really just want to lie down and cuddle together and I guess it's just gotten to the point where it's too much."  
Nilesy's face was plastered with sympathy. Lomadia turned to look up at him, the big question in her eyes.  
"Maybe it's time that I end it." She said softly.  
They both turned to look at Xephos again, but he was long gone.

Lalna and Nano were walking home quickly. Nano's parents had called her to make certain she was going to be home for dinner, so Lalna had offered to walk her home. They had spent a little too much time picking food out from his pantry for the walk, however, and now they were in a rush.  
"Hey Lal, what are you doing once this year is over? I was talking to Trott, Smith and Ross about it today and, with the exception of Trott, they seem to know what they're doing."  
The blonde boy was breathing heavily, two steps behind Nano.  
"I'd like to go to university and study biology, but I'm really not convinced my grades this year are going to be high enough."  
Nano skipped ahead with a smile on her face. "Don't be ridiculous, there's going to be no problem and you know it. You're a smart cookie, Lal, don't forget it."  
He looked skeptical.  
"Don't give me that," she said. "You're going to have no problems at all. If you start slipping up, you know I'll be there to kick you in the pants and study with you. You're going to be fine, I promise you."  
"Pinky promise?" He asked, outstretching his hand, pinky out.  
She rolled her eyes at him, but took his pinky.  
"I, Nano, pinky swear that you, Lalna, will be off to whatever university you choose at the end of this year. We'll do it together."  
They held their pinkies another two blocks, before they arrived at Nano's doorstep.  
She threw her arms around him, and he hugged her tightly.  
"I'll see you later," he said into her hair.  
"Absolutely." She said. They parted, and Nano ran up to her doorstep, giving Lalna a quick wave goodbye before entering the house.  
The smell of her mother's cooking was amazing.  
She called out to her parents, notifying them of her arrival and apologizing for the timing of it. Not a word was called back, curiously.  
She ran upstairs, dumped her backpack on the floor and kicked her shoes off before coming into the dining room.  
Her parents were sitting in silence, food laid out on the table.  
She took a seat and glanced between her parents.  
"Last time you two were like this, Tiddles had died. What's the matter now?"  
She felt worry creep into her chest, tightening her lungs.  
"Nothing is set it stone yet, you need to know that first of all," her father said.  
She furrowed her brow at him, and turned to her mother.  
"What...?"  
"We're looking at moving away, dear. We've had a very good offer on this house and we feel like new scenery would be fantastic for your final year of school. We're sorry it had to wait until you'd already started, but I'm sure there won't be much to catch up on."  
Tears filled Nano's eyes. "What do you mean, 'catch up on'? I'll still be going to the same school right? A new house doesn't mean a new school?"  
Her father was clearly very uncomfortable, and cleared his throat. He hated being the bearer of bad news. Nano's mother took her hand.  
"The house we're looking at buying... It's across the country. It's going to be better for a whole lot of reasons, and it's not like you've ever really settled down here. You have one friend, and he can come visit whenever he likes of course, and..."  
"No!" Nano screamed, tears streaming down her face now. "No! I won't go, and you can't make me."  
She slammed her hands down on the table, before sprinting up to her room, taking the stairs three at a time, slammed the door shut and threw herself onto her bed, body heaving with sobs. She promised him she'd be here. Her best friend.  
She promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew. This one's a little late, I'll be honest I had completely forgotten I needed to write this until about 4 hours after I normally upload, so sorry about that. Hope you enjoyed it. :)


	10. Everyone Just Wants A Show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Self harm.

"Sorry, run that by me again?"  
Lalna scratched his head in confusion. Nano gave him a stare that could wither flowers in a matter of seconds, and he raised his hands apologetically.  
"I'm sorry! Start from the beginning," he apologized again.  
Nano moved her eyes from his face and stared into her hands.  
"My family is moving away, they don't think I have a life here, and they want my senior year to be special. They're looking at buying this house which is so not as nice as the one we're in now, but Dad's pay is a little better I guess." She threw her hands into the air. "I just don't know what they expected. Me to be happy about this, I think. They don't understand that it's the quality of friends that I have, and not the quantity."  
Lalna gave her a sympathetic smile, trying his best to hide how upset he was.  
"But what can you do? If they've already set their minds on this plan then there's not much you can do to stop it."  
Nano looked up at him slyly, a small smile on her face. Lalna knew that look too well, it was the look that said 'Hey, Lal, how much bullshit do you think we can get away with before being arrested'. He involuntarily shivered.  
"I was thinking," Nano said, walking up slowly to him.  
"That maybe," She walked her fingers up his exposed bicep.  
Lalna interrupted her. "We're not killing anybody, okay?"  
Nano pretended to be offended and giggled. "No murders, I promise."  
Lalna sighed, but his relief was short lived.  
"I thought that maybe we could pretend to date. Like, dinner with my parents date. Then, maybe we could have like a night where everybody comes over and we have like, a sleepover thing or something. It'd prove to my parents that I do have a life here, and maybe it'll let me convince them that moving is the wrong choice."  
"Yeah but..." Lalna began, uncertain.  
"Nothing is set in stone yet," Nano interrupted. "There's still plenty of time for them to change their minds. We have to try. I'm not leaving you. I can't."  
Nano's voice cracked with the last syllable. Lalna put his arm around her shoulders, holding her tight and resting his chin on the top of her head while she began to cry.  
"We'll do whatever it takes," he said gently, and moved his little finger to loop in hers.

Trott nearly fell backwards as both his boyfriends sprung into his arms, a mess of hugging and small kisses.  
"Guys, guys please, you're too heavy!" Cried Trott, his arms giving way. Smith fell, landing on his feet, and by some miracle Ross was still perched on the red-head's back.  
It was the end of the school day, and students poured out of the school in their little cliques, making their way to vehicles parked all over, or waving goodbyes as they started their walks home.  
"I've gotta go to Mum's work." Trott said, gesturing down the road to the busier parts of town.  
"Are you sure you don't want a ride? I can head out that way before dropping Smith off, if you wanted." Ross said with a bright smile. "It's no problem."  
Both Smith and Ross looked at Trott expectantly. He thought about it for a moment.  
"Uh, I think I'd like to walk today," Trott said. "It's a nice day, so I might as well make the most of it, and I don't want you to make a special trip for me."  
Ross hopped off of Smith's back, spinning his car keys around his index finger.  
"Okay, Trotty, we'll see you tomorrow then."  
He gave both boys a quick kiss before Smith jumped up onto Ross and they skipped away towards the carpark, Ross' face the image of exertion. Trott smiled affectionately, before turning and making his way in the opposite direction, towards the center of town.  
Before he'd taken ten steps, Strippin called to Trott from the center of his group of friends.  
"Hey, Trott, how's it going?" Strippin asked with an unfriendly smile.  
"I'd love to talk, but I'm late, I really need to get going. Another time?" Trott rattled as politely as he could, before turning back to his walk.  
A hand landed on his shoulder, fingers pressing into his skin. Trott turned.  
Strippin was wearing the same smile. "I'm sure you've got a minute to chat, don't you?"  
Trott saw the threat in his eyes and didn't try to get away.  
"What do you want to talk about?" Trott asked tiredly, refusing to make eye contact.  
"Oh, I was just wondering how long you expected your charade of a relationship to last. Let's be honest, Smith and Ross are both a hell of a lot better than you, aren't they?" Strippin's cool smile never faltered.  
"It'll last as long as it'll last." Trott said simply, before shrugging off the older boy's shoulder and walking away. He looked desperately for a friend, for Nano. Her mother worked at the same building his did, and they often walked together. Her pretty black hair was nowhere to be found in the sea of students, and Trott's heart faltered as Strippin called out one last time.  
"Once you crash and burn, maybe I'll take your place. Being with both of them at once could be a whole lot of fun, right, Trott?"  
The small brunette pretended not to hear, and continued down the path. Worried thoughts plagued his head for the rest of the walk, and he idly kicked a stick, wondering where Nano was. She must be out with Lalna.  
He soon reached the office building, and he walked quickly inside, thankful for the cool air that quickly surrounded him. He was sweating all over. After giving his mother a quick wave across an ocean of cubicles, he made his way into the staffroom and flopped onto the nearest chair, bringing his water bottle to his lips.  
Desperate to wash the sweat from his face, he made his way to the bathrooms at the end of the hallway. He saw that the door was unlocked and so didn't bother even knocking as he pulled the door open.  
Nano jumped up, fear in her eyes. Trott looked at her in shock. The moment she recognized him, she slammed the door shut behind him, wincing in pain.  
"What..." Trott began. Then he noticed. The bloodstained bandage hanging loose from her upper arm. The gauze pads on the floor. And the small razor in his friend's hand.  
"Don't say anything," Nano said quietly. "I know every possible thing you're going to say, and I don't want the lectures. Not right now."  
Trott reached out a hand to her, his skin almost glowing in the fluorescent light. She pulled away. "Don't. Blood stains really bad."  
The pair stood in silence for what seemed like forever, but was probably more like ten seconds. "Why?" Trott asked.  
Nano looked him dead in the eyes. "You can't tell anybody about this. Nobody at all."  
Trott shook his head. "Of course, I won't tell a soul." His brows furrowed. "But, why?"  
Nano looked at him hard, before apparently deciding she owed him an explanation.  
"Since I was 13, I've dealt with life like this. I'm not suicidal or anything like that, I just like the pain." She cringed. "Okay, 'like' is the wrong word. It just helps me be able to not focus on anything. Not worry about anything. When I hurt, everything else falls away. It's peaceful."  
Trott couldn't stop staring at her arm. The blood...  
"I, uh," he mumbled. "I think I should go."  
He turned to leave, but she grabbed a hold of his sleeve and looked at him with desperation clear in her eyes.  
"Remember. You can't tell anybody about this. If my parents ever found out..."  
He pulled his arm from her, and looked at her sadly. "I won't tell."  
He opened the door and left her with tears in her eyes.

Nano felt Trott's eyes on her as she happily skipped up to her mother, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before they made their move to leave. Her mother explained that her father was going to meet them at Nano's favourite chinese joint, and she couldn't stop grinning. And couldn't stop thinking about how fake the grin was.  
Somebody finally found out. She knew it was only a matter of time. She assumed it was going to be Lalna.  
Worries churned in her stomach, making her feel ill. She knew self harm was a stupid thing to get involved in, but once she'd started using it as a coping mechanism she couldn't stop. It became an addiction faster than she could keep up with.  
She desperately tried to forget about it, focusing instead on her pitch to her parents about staying. She'd decided that she wasn't going to straight out ask them to reconsider. She was going to act first, show them that her life here was important to her, before talking to them directly about it.  
As her family sat around a small table covered with plastic containers of food, she casually dropped into conversation the fact that she might be seeing somebody.  
"Oh really?" Her mother said, more than a little surprised.  
"I thought you were dating Lalna?" Her father said, confused.  
Nano laughed. "Well it's good you think that, Dad. You're so far out of the loop that you're back in it again." Before her mother started the bombardment of questions, Nano explained. "We didn't think we were very good together to begin with, but since that date I think we've become a lot closer and we've decided to make it official."  
Her father looked concerned. "How much 'closer', exactly?"  
Nano went bright red, almost able to light the shop with her face. "Not that close," she said quickly.  
Her mother looked surprised. "Well, that's great news, sweetie. We're glad you two are happy together." She reached out to put her hand over Nano's.  
The teen smiled. Right where she wanted them.  
"We were also thinking of maybe having a party some time soon, you know, before I go, so that all of my friends have a chance to say a proper goodbye."  
Both her parents looked startled. "You've never been much for parties, Nano. Certainly not hosting them."  
Nano brushed her hair aside and put her hand on the back of her neck.  
"Well, no, but I figure if you guys are taking me away then I have to do something."  
Her father shot her a warning look.  
"Don't be so melodramatic."  
Nano turned to her mother with her best set of puppy-dog eyes.  
Her mother rolled her eyes, but smiled. "We'll think about a party, okay? No promises."  
Under the table, Nano fist pumped.  
Her plan would work.

Trott sat in the bathroom of his house.  
Thought of what Strippin had said.  
Thought about the bruises on his legs from the bullies.  
Thought about how he didn't want to lose the two boys he loved most.  
Wished he was more,  
Wished he was better,  
Wished he was worth love.  
He dragged the pin across his thigh, wincing in pain as small droplets of blood formed on the red line.  
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and relaxed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew. This was a little tough to write.
> 
> See you next week. :)


	11. Did you think that we'd cry tonight?

In pitch darkness his hands roam over her body slowly, raising goosebumps with his fingertips. Her hands wrap around the back of his head, pulling at his hair while he moves his lips across her breasts. Moans come slowly from her throat while his fingers stroke her gently, and when she's finally ready he pushes in. She gasps as he thrusts his hips all the way up against her thighs, and he runs his hands down her sides before grabbing her hips and starts to move, ever so slowly to begin with.  
Their breaths get heavier and heavier, and their tongues dance playfully as their bodies roll and he lies back against the bed as she rides him.  
Just before he finishes, he sits up and wraps his arms around her, burying his face in her neck. They moan in sync, a harmony of pleasure, before falling together onto the mattress, arms still wrapped around each other.

Xephos stepped out of the shower, making his way back to his bedroom where Lomadia would be waiting. Everything had worked out perfectly, he'd got his parents out of the house, cooked a meal for them both, and it ended in the best way it could have. A smile grew on his face until it ran from ear to ear. Things were finally getting better between them, finally.  
Everything was going to work out.  
He opened his bedroom door, and found Lomadia already dressed, sitting on the edge of the bed. His heart sank when he spotted the look on her face. She didn't make eye contact.  
"Come sit down." She said emotionlessly, nodding to the corner of the bed beside her.  
He suddenly felt very naked, wearing only a towel around his waist. Too exposed to have this conversation.  
"What's up?" He said, a little too eagerly. He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.  
"I think we should break up."  
Xephos was certain he felt his heart snap. He didn't reply, couldn't reply. Silence filled the room like water, suffocating the occupants.  
Finally, "I should go." Lomadia stood up, but Xephos grabbed her hand while he released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.  
"Please, don't," he begged. His voice cracked, and he hated himself for it.  
"I think we both know that we're not going to work." She cleared her throat. "It's been really good, being with you, you know. And I'm glad we had this chance to say a proper goodbye-"  
"I can change. I can be different. Say the word and I'll do it, just please, don't go."  
She worked her hand out of his, and took a step away.  
"I'm sorry."  
She closed the door behind her.  
He lay down and shut his eyes tightly, trying his best not to cry.  
It didn't work.

Tom knocked on Xephos' door.  
He'd made his way here as fast as he could after receiving a desperate text from his friend. Nothing stirred inside the house, and for a moment he thought perhaps Xephos had fallen asleep before he got here. He waited a couple of seconds before knocking again, and this time he heard footsteps from inside.  
The door opened to reveal Xephos in a rumpled t-shirt and a pair of jeans, his cheeks red and puffy and his eyes bloodshot.  
"Thanks for coming." He said flatly, before walking back into the house. Tom followed him in, closing the door behind him.  
"What's wrong? What happened?"  
Xephos fell onto the couch, pressing his hands against his eyes in an attempt to prevent more tears from falling. His face was still moist from the last bout.  
"Lomadia and I..." His voice cracked, and he took a shaky breath in. "We've split up. She just left."  
Tom's heart leapt in his chest, but he didn't let the strange feeling show on his face. He had to be sympathetic, he had to be there to comfort his friend.  
"That's awful." Tom said, sitting down next to Xephos on the couch and putting his arm around his friend. "Are you gonna be okay?"  
Xephos just cried, and Tom pulled him closer. He whispered reassurances in his ear.  
After an age had passed, Xephos cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, for just calling you out of the blue. I know we're not really that close, and you probably shouldn't have to be dealing with all of this stuff."  
Tom smiled at him, holding eye contact.  
"We're friends, man. Don't ever hesitate to call me, whenever you need me. I'm gonna be here for you no matter what."  
Something flickered in Xephos' eyes, and he moved his face closer to Tom's slowly.  
Tom became very aware of every point of contact between them, and his heart began beating faster. Was he taking advantage of Xephos' state of mind? He didn't understand his feelings entirely, didn't quite trust them, but at that moment it felt right. He closed his eyes and leaned forward.  
At that moment, the door opened to reveal Xephos' parents, and the boys jumped away from each other at almost inhuman speed. Both of their faces had gone the colour of a summer sunset.  
Before either of his parents had a chance to say anything, Xephos called to them.  
"Guys! Tom is going to stay the night, okay?"  
Panic swam up Tom's throat. "No, uh, that's quite alright, I should be going."  
He stood up and walked as quickly as he could out of the house, barely pausing to say a hello and a goodbye to Xephos' parents.  
For the second time that night, Xephos was left alone.

Sips' hands roamed to the bottom of Sjin's shirt while they made out, Sips laying on top of Sjin on the floor of Fort Fartface. Sjin pulled his boyfriend's hand away, but Sips was insistent, running his hands along Sjin's bare sides.  
Sips felt his boyfriend wince, and he broke the kiss and looked at Sjin questioningly. When Sjin wouldn't make eye contact, Sips hesitantly lifted his boyfriend's shirt to reveal a large black bruise on his ribcage.  
Sips stood bolt upright, anger written on his face as plain as day.  
"What the fuck is that. What did they do to you."  
Sjin still sat quietly, refusing to look at his boyfriend.  
"Sjin! Answer me! What did they do to you?"  
"Sips, could we just not talk about it? It doesn't matter." Sjin said quietly, almost whimpering.  
Sips started pacing, pulling his hands into fists and releasing them again.  
"It matters. Tell me. We can do something about this."  
"I don't want to do anything about it." Sjin stood up. "It was my fault, okay? This is my problem to deal with, not yours, and I don't want to talk about it."  
Sips grabbed his hand tightly. "You're my world. It's my problem."  
Sjin ripped his hand away from Sips' grip and began walking to to the door.  
"You're not listening to me, Sips! If I tell you it's not your problem, it's not. You need to drop it, because I asked you to."  
"You don't even get it, do you?" Sips said, raising his voice. "You are my everything. You can't just expect me to ignore you hurting. What good am I to you if I can't help you? Let's be honest, you're the better part of this relationship. All I have to give is my love, I don't have intelligence or money or anything else you could be interested in. All I have is the fact that I care about you. When you don't let me do that... It just means I'm useless."  
Sjin turned slowly and took both of his boyfriend's hands in his. "You're not useless. I love you for everything that you are. I'm not saying you can't care, I just can't talk about this right now, okay? I don't want to do anything about it, I don't want you worrying about it, I just need you to forget it. I'll text you later."  
Sjin walked to the door, but Sips yelled after him.  
"You can't run from it forever! One day you're going to realize what they're doing is wrong."  
Sjin didn't turn around.  
Sips slapped his hand to his forehead and screamed.  
"Useless!"  
He kicked the table over and shooting pain ran up his leg. He yelled more, before grabbing his backpack and heading home.

"Zylus!"  
Rythian called across the courtyard. Zylus turns, with that never ending smile on his face.  
"What's up?" Zylus asks.  
"Uh, well, I was wondering." Rythian stammered. "There's a party this weekend, Strippin's party and, since me and Zoe aren't really talking, I was wondering, if, uh, maybe, you wanted to come?"  
Zylus' smile faltered, and Rythian immediately began backpedalling.  
"You don't have to come, obviously. I just thought maybe it would be cool for you to meet some people, and I don't really want to go by myself. Whatever you wanna do is cool."  
Zylus tried his best to make a convincing smile. "I'll definitely think about it, okay? I'm just really trying hard to get into my schoolwork and a frantic party isn't really on my to do list."  
"Of course," Rythian said, faking a smile of his own to hide his disappointment. He really didn't want to go by himself.  
Zylus noticed his new friend's shoulders slump, so he added, "I'll text you with a decision tonight, okay?"  
Rythian's smile almost reached his eyes. "That'd be cool."  
A giggling drew the pair's attention.  
Zoey and Fiona were on the opposite side of the courtyard, laughing and hi-fiving.  
Rythian turned to stone, eyes set on the ground.  
Zylus had heard about everything that had gone on, and put a hand on his shoulder.  
"If it'll help you forget about her, I'll go to the party. What kind of friend would I be if I let you suffer by yourself?"  
Rythian gave him a small smile. "Thanks."  
Without another word he left, eager to get away from the sounds of Zoey being happy without him.  
Trott watched Rythian's reaction to Zoey's new friend from his table with the boys. He'd overheard the conversation between Zylus and Rythian, and was unsettled by the fact the party was only days away.  
"Guys." He said, interrupting his boyfriends' conversation. "Are we gonna go to the party this weekend? I've been thinking about it and I'm not sure I want to go. I have so much homework."  
Smith nodded eagerly, while Ross shrugged.  
"I'm gonna go," said Smith. "But I don't expect you two to too. Jesus, what a sentence."  
Ross laughed and turned to address Trott. "I'm gonna go if nothing better comes up, otherwise my weekend's gonna be dead."  
Trott turned away from them and pouted. It'd look weird to not go if both of them were, and he wanted to keep an eye on them if they were going to be around Strippin.  
As he shifted his weight, his jeans caught on a raw bit of skin and he winced in pain.  
He had to go. He wasn't going to let Strippin tear his happiness apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right boys and girls, next week is Strippin's Party.  
> We've got so much planned for it, that it's gonna be split over two chapters!  
> Woo! Two parter!  
> So stick around and gear up, and we'll see you next week. :)


	12. Innocence is gone...

"We're too early." Xephos whined, looking up at Strippin's enormous house. The lack of bright lights and loud music certainly suggested Xephos was correct.  
"Good," Honeydew said beside him. "It means I have time to set up all this food." He gestured to the large picnic basket in his hand.  
The pair had decided to walk together, and Xephos was thrilled they had a real chance to catch up without all the drama of his life getting in the way.   
Honeydew was dressed for the nines in a flashy button up shirt, while Xephos just wore a plain t-shirt. For the whole walk, Xephos had felt very self conscious, but cheered up as they made their way inside and discovered that Honeydew was perhaps a little overdressed.  
A group of about four of Strippin's friends rushed around the open lounge room, shifting furniture to make room for the dance floor. Strippin himself called to Honeydew from the kitchen, indicating a place for him to set up the snacks he'd brought.  
Xephos stood off to the side, trying to avoid getting in anybody's way. He was very uncomfortable with the timing of their arrival; He really wanted to just turn up and get as off his face as he could as quickly as possible. He was wringing his hands when he heard his name from the far side of the enormous space. His eyes soon found Tom, standing at the DJ station.  
"You're sorting the music for this gig?" Xephos asked with a smile as he made his way to Tom's set up for the evening.  
Tom grinned. "Absolutely. Strippin's even paying me for it, it's so cool." Tom ducked behind his station and rose again with a bottle in each hand. "Want a drink?"  
Xephos reached eagerly, taking one of the bottles with a thankful smile. "I'm gonna need this tonight."  
Tom just looked at him sympathetically. "I asked Strippin if he thought Lomadia was coming. As far as he knows, she's not making an appearance. So take it slow. eh?"  
Xephos winked at his friend.  
"I've never taken anything slow in my life, and I'm not starting now." With that, he upturned the bottle and took a couple of mouthfuls.  
Tom rolled his eyes, and he caught an unusual sight at the door entrance.  
"Yo, Xeph, what's going on there?" He asked, pointing.  
Nano and Lalna had just made their entrance, and Nano looked absolutely stunning in a small red dress. Lalna had clearly made an effort too, clean shaven and wearing a classy white button up that wouldn't be amiss at a wedding. Or a funeral. Though of course, he was still wearing his worn out trainers with the coloured shoelaces. He never took those things off.  
But what really had drawn Tom's attention was the fact that Lalna had one arm draped over Nano's should, and in return she had hers around his waist.  
Xephos was stunned. "Well that's certainly a turn of events," he mumbled.  
"It sure is," Tom agreed. Once he'd broken out of his confusion, Tom started. "Shit, I should probably start the music."  
Xephos laughed. "Please do, I'm ready to embarrass myself. I'll see you later, yeah? I'm gonna go dance my feet off."  
Tom quickly organised some warm-up music, and stared at Xephos fondly as he began "dancing" in the center of the room. God he was a dork.

"Wait," Rythian said suddenly, putting his arm up to stop Zylus walking any further. Zylus looked at him questioningly.  
"What's up?" He asked.   
Rythian just pointed. Zoey and Fiona were just walking up the steps to Strippin's house, hand in hand. Rythian was pale.  
"We don't have to go, you know." Zylus said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "If you want to leave, we can go back to my house and watch movies or something, to get your mind off of her."  
Rythian shook his head slowly. "No, I can't live my life scared of her. Besides, if she's happy then I should be too."  
Zylus looked skeptical. "Dude, none of this is your fault. You have to reason to be scared of her in the first place. But just because she's moved on doesn't mean you have to. You're allowed to keep feelings for her." He paused. "You don't have to throw away the happiness you used to have. They're good memories, don't let them fade."  
Rythian puffed up his chest. "Come on, we're going in. I need to talk to her anyway." He began walking quickly and purposefully to the house.  
"Oh goodie." Zylus mumbled, before jogging to catch up with his friend.  
Inside, lights flashed brightly in the darkness. Strippin had gone to extremes to make this as flashy as he could, with party lights hanging from every corner of the room, a large drinks table in the corner and food on almost every surface of the kitchen. About thirty kids were dancing in the center of the room, limbs flailing wildly to music that was near deafening.  
Soon, Rythian saw a flash of Zoey's face under a bright pink light, standing near the drinks table with a cup in hand and a smile on her face.  
He paused, wondering whether talking to her was a good plan or not. Zylus walked up behind him. "Go, make nice," he whispered in Rythian's ear. After taking a moment to steel himself, Rythian began making his way to the pair of girls across the room.  
Fiona saw him coming from a mile away, and pointed him out to Zoey. The look on her face didn't indicate an eagerness to speak with him, but he continued regardless. He had to do this.  
"I'll leave you guys to it," Fiona said, before shooting a sweet smile at Rythian and making her way onto the dance floor.  
Zoey looked at her ex, her face not giving away any emotion at all.  
"Hey..." Rythian said, rubbing his own arm nervously.  
"Yep." Zoey said simply.  
Rythian became angry at her simple, dismissive answer.  
"Look, clearly you don't want to talk to me. I just came over to make sure there are no hard feelings, and I'm glad you found happiness with Fiona. There's no reason to be angry that you're moving on, and she seems really nice."  
Zoey didn't even react, and with a red face Rythian turned on his heels and started walking away from her. He was only three steps away when a hand landed on his shoulder.  
"Rythian," Zoey said, barely audible over the music. "We had a good time. I'm glad we were what we were." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and Rythian leaned away from it for a moment, confused, but after a second he returned the hug sincerely.  
"Thanks," he said. "I think I needed this."  
Zoey sniffled and smiled, wiping a small tear from her eye. "You're not the only one."

"Do you want to dance?" Sjin asked, making a dramatic pose asking for Sips' hand.  
Sips laughed and shook his head. "You know I can't dance. It's not happening."  
Sjin shrugged and made his way to a bunch of girls he knew while Sips watched on, keeping an eye on his boyfriend while he walked confidently into the center of attention.   
Sips envied him so much.  
They'd arrived to the party a little late, after Sjin had a clothing crisis in the form of his mother putting laundry on. She didn't pick up on the difference between the pile of clothes on the floor (dirty laundry), and the pile of clothes on his bed (the clothes he'd picked out for the night).  
Sjin was livid, but wouldn't dare say anything to his parents. Couldn't suggest they'd done something wrong, particularly not in front of Sips.  
Instead, they'd searched desperately for a clothing shop that was still open for business. The only thing they could find was an old second hand store that was about to close. The ancient man bringing the sign in was quickly convinced to give them ten minutes by Sjin's quick charm, and both of them had come out happy with matching dress shirts, Sips' in blue and Sjin's in orange.  
Sips watched Sjin as he threw his hands up and smiled playfully with the people around him. He felt a tightness in his chest, and decided to get a drink to distract him.  
The kitchen tiles were already soaked in alcohol, and the smell lingered and pulled Sips in. His sneakers were squelching on the wet ground he looked down, disgusted, while he poured a drink into one of those cliche red plastic cups.  
"Enough there for another?" A voice said behind him. He turned to see Trott stood uncomfortably, one arm outstretched with a cup in his hand.  
Sips smiled. "Always enough my man," he said, eagerly topping Trott's drink up. "How are you enjoying the night?"  
Trott shrugged. "It's okay, I guess. I didn't really want to come in the first place, you know? But I guess it's okay." He shrugged again, and raised the cup to his lips.  
Sips smiled widely at him. "I know exactly how you feel. Sjin dragged me along, but I guess I'm happy if there's beer, you know." He raised his cup up above his head, and Trott did the same.  
"So, you're not a fan of social situations?" Sips asked, hoping to find kinship in a shared hatred of people.  
"It's not that," Trott explained. "I'm just not a fan of Strippin. But hey, the boyfriends are having a great time so..."  
"We gotta stay." Sips finished, nodding.  
An obnoxious yell turned heads in the kitchen, and the largest of Strippin's mates wandered in. Trott rolled his eyes. He'd had too many run-ins with this guy already, and turned to leave.  
"Try to have a good time, man," Sips called after him.  
Trott turned to give Sips a wave goodbye, and it was a mistake. Strippin's friend walked straight into Trott's back, almost knocking him over and spilling his alcohol all over the small boy.  
"Watch it," the guy grunted. "Oh, little Trotty. How are we doing this evening?" He asked, feining compassion. "Did your little boyfriends ask you to leave so you don't drag them down with you? Or are you being a good little lap dog and getting them some drinks?"  
Trott backed up, refusing to lose his temper, refusing to argue with this meathead.  
"Back off," Sips said, waving his hand dismissively at the bully.  
The guy chuckled. "I guess the loser faggots have to stick together, huh? Maybe you two should hook up and go home, keep the trash of the main drag, you understand?"  
Sips smiled at the guy politely and suggested he go 'hook up' with his own mother, before putting his arm around Trott and leading him safely out of the kitchen.  
"Don't worry about that asshole," Sips told Trott. "You go and make the most of the night, okay?"  
Trott looked unsure, but Sips had already started wandering off somewhere, probably to be alone with his cup. Trott closed his eyes and reassured himself. Nothing that some dick said to him could affect his relationship unless he let it.  
He turned with a smile on his face to get back to his boyfriends, and almost immediately the smile vanished again. Strippin was dancing with Ross and Smith, off to the side of the room. It certainly wasn't a dance that would be allowed at a school event, either.  
Trott just made his way to the nearest chair and sat down, slowly consuming his alcohol, and never taking his eyes off of Strippin.

"Tommy boy!"  
Tom looked around the room, trying to pick out the person who'd called to him.  
"Tom!"  
He turned on the balls off his feet and was almost nose to nose with, judging by the smell on his breath, a very intoxicated Xephos.  
"Didn't take you long, did it?" Tom asked, taking a step back.  
"I'm fine, man, so I was thinking right, you're cool and I really like you..." Xephos drawled, before stopping and looking off into the distance. Tom followed Xephos' stare to a small spider on the wall, before letting out a huge sigh.  
"Maybe you've had enough," Tom said, taking the cup from Xephos' hand.  
Xephos recoiled as if he'd been bitten by a snake. "I am perfectly aware of when I've had enough to drink Thomas," he spat, reaching to take his drink back.  
Tom kept it away from him. "My name's not short for Thomas. My name is just Tom," he pointed out patiently.  
"Well, Tom, I'd like my drink back," Xephos said, clearly straining to sound sober. He didn't do a very good job.  
Tom placed the cup down on the floor and took Xephos by the shoulders. "You're gonna have to believe me Xeph, you don't need any more."  
Xephos pouted for a moment, then all of a sudden an idea appeared in his eyes. "Come dance with me."  
Tom's eyes widened. "Uh, Xeph, I can't. I'm organising all of the music, you see?" He gestured to the desk of tech-stuff. Xephos pouted again.  
"Just put a song on, and we can go dance. Just one song, pretty pretty please?"  
Xephos widened his eyes and poked out his bottom lip while Tom considered it for a moment.  
"Fine," he said finally. "One song."  
Xephos punched the air, took Tom's hand and they ran together into the crowd.

Sips considered his options, sat with an overfilled cup of beer on the floor of a large-ish closet he found in one of the hallways. The music still roared through the whole house like a wave and Sips found himself tapping his shoe against his will. It was a little hard to breath, but only because an enormous fur coat was wrapping itself around his head.  
He could go home, but that didn't really seem like something he wanted to do, particularly as his parents were bound to ask questions after he'd told them he'd be out later.  
He could go out and have fun with his boyfriend and friends.  
Ha.  
He could...  
He could...  
He didn't know what he wanted to do, but being stuck in this closet for any longer was not what he wanted to do. He stood up, sneezed because of some hideous feather garment, and opened the door. He almost expected somebody to make a joke about coming out of the closet.  
Nobody did.  
He was almost disappointed.  
He made his way through the house, dodging drunk kids everywhere. Though he was walking slowly he soon enough found himself back in the kitchen with an empty cup in his hand. He reached to grab a bottle, but a hand was placed over his half way there.  
He'd recognize that moisturised skin texture anywhere. Sjin.  
"How many have you had already?" He asked, something like concern in his eyes.  
Sips smiled politely at him. "I've only had one cup, my dear."  
Sjin looked suspicious, but released his hand anyway. "I was wondering..." He began.  
Sips raised his hands. "Nope, I'm not dancing. You know I hate people looking at me. I'm not doing it." Sjin frowned.  
"Come on, nobody is looking at you, nobody cares how you dance or anything like that."  
Sips put his bottle down, slightly irritated. "I don't care if they don't care. Why don't you get that I'm actually just comfortable as I am. I don't need to be pushed out of my comfort zone, you're not Zooey fucking Deschanel taking me out on an ice rink for the first time."  
Sjin looked hurt. "I just want you to be happy, to spend time with me while we're out at a party together." He emphasised the last word.  
"You don't understand that I am happy? Do I seem so miserable all the time that you feel like I'm just some sad sack of shit that you have to try desperately to make better? I am happy the way things are. You on the other hand, are clearly not."  
Sjin took a deep breath. "Fine. Do whatever you want. Sorry if I upset you."  
Sips threw his bottle to the floor, and the room fell silent following the loud shattering of glass. "Don't you play the hurt hero here. You are the one who leaves me by myself. All you ever want is for me to be more like you, be more social, go talk to people and be normal. Well, shockingly, I don't want that. I don't want to talk to people, I don't want to spend more time with groups, and I sure as hell do not want to dance."  
Sips turned and left.  
Sjin clenched and unclenched his teeth.  
Then he put on a smile. "Don't worry about it guys, he just had a little too much to drink."  
He asked around and quickly found a half brush and shovel to clean the mess, tipped it into a bin while people patted him on the back for cleaning up after his 'psycho' boyfriend.  
After reassuring everybody that everything was fine, he excused himself and went up to the bathroom.  
Put his head in his hands.  
And had a good cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go guys.  
> Stick around for the second part next week, and let us know what you liked about this part.  
> See you next week. <3


	13. ... And what was right is wrong

"Where are we going?" Tom asked.  
Xephos was dragging him by the hand down a hallway, the party noises falling away as they moved farther from the main room. He turned back at Tom and smiled, "I have no idea."  
Tom looked back nervously, scared that somebody would find them in an uncomfortable position so far away from the main room. He slipped his hand out of Xephos'.  
"We shouldn't be here. Besides, I only set a couple of songs up to be played, I have to get back soon. What the hell are you doing?"  
Xephos was opening doors and peeking inside, giggling like a schoolgirl.  
"Found one!" Xephos called, running back to Tom and dragging him inside the room.  
A large bed sat to the left, up against a feature wall of bright red flowers. When Tom turned to ask Xephos what was going on, he was pulled into a sloppy kiss.  
He shoved Xephos lightly away and felt his stomach flip in surprise.  
"Xephos?"  
Tom was only given a sly smile before Xephos got nose to nose with him again.  
"Come on Tommy boy, you know this was gonna happen sometime." He rubbed Tom's arm with one hand, wrapping his other around Tom's back.  
"You're drunk." Tom said, pulling away ever so slightly. He knew it was wrong, to go along with this while Xephos was so clearly drunk, but he'd been thinking about it for such a long time...  
"Doesn't matter," Xephos mumbled into Tom's neck.  
The two boys fell onto the bed, and soon their lips found each other. Tongues danced while Xephos' hands roamed over Tom's sides, pulling up his shirt to touch the smooth skin underneath.  
After a minute, Xephos moved his hands to the button on Tom's jeans.  
"Whoa there," Tom said firmly, before moving out from underneath Xephos' body.  
"Come on Tom, we both need..." Xephos stopped and closed his eyes for a moment, before trying again. "We both need th..." He trailed off and lay down, leaving Tom lying in front of him.  
Tom looked at the ceiling and took a deep breath in. His heart was still hammering from the make out session, but looking at Xephos now, it felt wrong. He went to the closet and found a blanket to lay over Xephos, and the drunk boy mumbled a thanks.  
Tom leaned over and placed a delicate kiss on Xephos' temple before making his way to the door. He stopped for a moment and looked back, wondering what could have happened. All the different ways this could have played out.  
He sighed, and closed the door behind him, finding his way back to the party by following the music.

Zylus had far too much to drink.  
He and Rythian had been sitting down playing some card game without actually knowing the rules for about half an hour, both enjoying the game more than was warranted.  
Rythian stood. "Do you want another drink?" He asked, gesturing to the kitchen.  
"Hell yeah, but I really need to pee first," he replied, before making his way to the bathroom.  
He was having a fantastic night, and it was so great to meet all these people he was in school with. He had so many reservations, moving to this new city in senior year, terrified that everybody was already going to have their own little cliques. He didn't want to be an outsider again. But Rythian had been fantastic and supportive all the way through the transition, and he was proud to have made such a friendship so quickly.  
He stumbled a little on his way out of the bathroom, and searched through the crowd of kids for Rythian. Unable to find him, Zylus headed to the kitchen.  
On the granite bench there were too many empty bottles to count, and some girl had planted her butt on the corner of the counter while a guy made out with her from his position between her legs.  
Zylus blushed, unused to seeing such a blatant appetite for sex.  
Moving his eyes away from the couple, he spotted Rythian making his way through the crowd with a couple of drinks in hand.  
"Thanks!" Zylus yelled over the noise, as he picked the bottle from Rythian's hands.  
Suddenly, the crowd surged and bodies were thrown together violently, and Rythian and Zylus ended up chest to chest as a group from the main room ran into the kitchen, evidently desperate for more drinks.  
Zylus met Rythian's eyes and smiled, and Rythian smiled back. He took Rythian's smile as a que, and leaned his face towards Rythian's.  
"What the hell, Zylus!" Rythian yelled, shoving Zylus back into the crowd.  
Anger and confusion filled Rythian's eyes.  
"I thought..." Zylus began.  
"You thought wrong, buddy." Rythian said, looking at him with disgust.  
Zylus tried to apologize, but Rythian had already made his way out of the crowd, and Zylus pushed through them, desperate to find his friend. By the time he'd made it to the main room, he could only watch as Rythian left through the open front door.  
"Fuck..." Zylus whispered.

Trott got bored of watching his boyfriends dance pretty quickly, and soon made his way to drinking game in a living room separate from the dance floor. He didn't know anybody at the table very well except Lalna, who was either winning or losing the game, depending on whether consuming alcohol was the goal or not.  
All heads were turned when they heard the shattering of a bottle, and Trott got up to check it out. He found Sjin and Sips' argument in the center of attention, and he watched Sips storm out of the party. He found Ross' eye across the room and they exchanged confused shrugs. After cleaning up, Sjin made his way down a quiet hallway to where Trott thought the bathroom was, and made his way to follow him.  
He knocked on what he thought was the bathroom door, but there was no reply. Either he'd got the wrong room, or Sjin didn't want to talk.  
Just incase he'd found the wrong door, he made his way a little further down the hallway, and saw a light coming from a partly open door. He made his way to it slowly, gently knocking. Nobody replied, and so he opened the door gently, not wanting to intrude on somebody in the bathroom.  
As it turned out, it wasn't the bathroom. It was a bedroom.  
Strippin was sitting at one end, and he couldn't immediately make out the other person from behind. The lights in the room had been turned down during Trott's approach.  
They moved to kiss, and Trott began to leave the doorway, feeling perverted watching Strippin and his little toy enjoy their time together.  
But something stopped him.  
He suddenly recognized the other person, and a pit opened in his chest.  
"Smith." Strippin said, pointing right at Smith.  
The ginger boy was off the bed in seconds, running towards Trott, but he had already started running. Tears stung his eyes as he ran down the hallway, his footsteps feeling slow in comparison to the ones behind him.  
At the edge of the ever-bigger crowd in the main room, a girl stopped to ask Trott if he was okay. He shoved past her and shot through the crowd, not taking the time to apologize to anybody he shoved over on his way through.  
Smith was right on his heels, until he got pulled aside by the angry boyfriend of a girl Trott knocked down.  
Trott stood outside catching his breath, watching his tears fall to the ground, while Smith quickly avoided the situation inside and reached Trott, apologizing before he was even in earshot.  
"Trott, that was nothing. We were both drunk, it meant nothing at all."  
"Shut up Smith! Just shut the fuck up, I don't want to hear any of this! Leave me the fuck alone."  
Trott shoved Smith away, and took off down the street.  
"Trott! Come back, don't just go running... Off..."  
Smith punched the wall of the house.  
"Fuck!" Smith screamed, as tears began pouring down his face.

Ross had searched everywhere for his boyfriends, but neither of them were to be found anywhere. He asked around, and the kids either hadn't seen them or were too drunk to think straight.  
He wandered into the kitchen, where one of Strippin's friends was holding an icepack to the head of a girl who looked very ill.  
"If I see that little piece of shit again, I'm gonna destroy him. Just because he's a homo he think he can get away with knocking innocent girls over. He's got another thing coming."  
He was talking to nobody in particular, but there were cheers from the girl's friends from their little group at the fridge.  
Ross picked up another drink, trying to ignore the ever increasing amount of vulgar language coming from the large male.  
Just before he made his way back into the crowd, he heard the guy say something that made his blood boil.  
"Little Trott is gonna have a big fist in his face. He's so fucking pathetic, he'll probably piss himself." It was obvious that the guy had too much to drink and was now just on an alcohol fueled rant, but Ross saw red.  
"What the fuck are you saying about my boyfriend?" Ross called, as he made his way back into the kitchen and faced off against Strippin's friend.  
The guy just smiled. "I'm saying he's a trashbag. Disgusting piece of filth. Who deserves everything that's coming to him for knocking down this beautiful lady."  
He turned to gesture at the girl, and Ross snapped.  
He balled his hands into fists and threw a wild punch at the guy, before jumping onto his side to throw more fists at his face.  
"You don't talk about him like that!" Ross screamed. Suddenly he felt hands on his shoulders, and he was peeled off the guy and thrown to the floor, winding him.  
He raised his arms across his face to shield himself from the fists that starting falling all over him, and just after a brutal kick had landed on his ribs he heard shouts erupt from all over the house and a group began forming around the punch-up.  
Suddenly the punches stopped, and Ross opened his eyes to see that Sjin had jumped to his defence, forcing his palm into the chin of one of the thugs. This gave Ross just enough time to stand, and he faced off against three guys while Sjin was keeping his own with the guy who'd started it all.  
They danced around Ross for a moment, before the guy at the front threw the first punch. It glanced off Ross' shoulder, and he winced. Just before another punch was thrown, two guys were suddenly on the floor, courtesy of a huge leg sweep by Lalna.  
The two guys recovered quickly, and stood up to get their revenge on Lalna, but Nano stood between them.  
"Touch him and you're dead!" She screamed.  
Ross spotted Sjin backed up against the kitchen bench and rushed to help him with a quick punch to the bigger kid's kidney.  
"Ross! What the hell are you doing?" Yelled Smith. He'd come inside, cheeks still stained with tears, to see what all the shouting was about, only to find his boyfriend in the middle of it.  
The yell distracted Ross for a second, and the guy took the opportunity to pick Ross straight up and was moments away from throwing him across the counter of empty bottles when the music stopped abruptly and white noise shot through everybody's eardrums.  
"Party's over!" Yelled Strippin, pointing at the guy who held Ross. "Put him down, now!"  
The guy put Ross on the ground none-too-gently, and raised his palms in a show of surrender.  
Ross brushed himself off and looked around as the crowd started to disperse.  
Sjin was resting a bruised arm, and Nano was scolding Lalna for getting involved.  
It was a stupid thing, to start a fight. He turned to find Smith, but he was over talking to Strippin, thanking him for stopping the fight. Strippin took Smith's hands, and Ross felt that anger rise in him again. But he was tired, so instead of walking over and punching Strippin's lights out for touching his boyfriend, he made his way outside and waited near a tree for Smith to show up while people streamed out of the house talking animatedly about the fight.

Ross ranted and raved all the way home, obviously still a little intoxicated.  
Smith didn't say anything, not trusting himself to speak. Luckily, Ross didn't ask about his puffy face, still red from the crying.  
Trott sat in his bedroom, with his arm resting on the toilet seat. He was so angry. So disgusted with Smith. So disappointed by himself. He knew the relationship was too good to be true.  
He'd found a razor in his Mum's craft set, and he dragged it across his wrist without even feeling it.  
Blood pooled, and dripped down into the bowl. He watched it calmly.  
He closed his eyes.  
Everything was absolutely fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that party probably could have gone better for a lot of people.  
> Let us know how you enjoyed this special two-parter, and we'll see you next week. :D


	14. Friction

Trott stopped mid-stride, spotting Smith walking into the school grounds.  
Within moments he'd spun around and walked away out of sight. He couldn't face him, not without feeling the heat of the cuts on his arms that filled his mind every time he even thought about Smith.  
A shiver ran down his spine, both from the cool wind and the memory of that night. He'd ran home as fast as he could manage, and picked up the blade without hesitation.  
He turned right to go down a hallway, but found the douche from the party talking excitedly with his friends in exaggerated hand gestures.  
How is it, Trott wondered as he took the left hallway, that the lumbering bag of dicks is more socially successful? What did he have that Trott didn't? A willingness to bully and hurt people who couldn't defend themselves? Sure, he was probably more attractive, more muscles, sexually attracted to girls...  
But isn't it what's on the inside that counts? Or is that really just a fairy tale that children believe until they're old enough to understand that if you don't look a certain way or make the right friends then you are actually of less worth than dirt?  
He was so focused inward that he didn't hear Ross' calls, and it was only when he felt a hand on his shoulder that he turned.  
He instinctively flinched, but played it off as a small sneeze and gave Ross his biggest and fakest smile.  
"Trott? Is everything okay? I called out like a billion times."  
Trott embraced his boyfriend tightly, ignoring his question.  
"Trott?"  
Ross took Trott by the shoulders and held his gaze, but Trott turned away.  
"Everything's fine, I just need to go to the bathroom."  
Trott tore his arm from Ross' grip and made to leave, but Ross pleaded.  
"Trott, please, tell me what's wrong. Something's the matter, you and Smith are acting so weird, and I feel left out of the loop. Please, tell me what the hell is going on."  
Ross looked really upset.  
Trott left without a word.

Xephos ran through the school hallways. According to his memory, Tom would be halfway to his digital animation class, and he planned an intercept.  
He spotted Tom just ahead, and called out. He saw Tom almost turn around but decide against it and kept walking as if he hadn't heard anything at all.  
Xephos smiled. Nobody ignores him like that. He took a deep breath in and screamed as loud as he could down the hallway.  
"THOMAS!"  
Tom froze, and the population of students in the hallway looked between Xephos and him with degrees of confused expressions. Tom turned and walked through the throng of kids quickly with his head down to avoid the stares, before pulling Xephos none too gently by his arm to a small alcove in the hall. His face was red as a fire truck.  
"My name. Is not. Thomas." He said firmly, but with a smile in his eyes.  
"What did you want me to do? You we're clearly avoiding me..."  
"I was not!" Tom interrupted.  
Xephos gave him a look.  
"Okay, maybe a little. I just don't think there's anything to say."  
Xephos' brow furrowed and he laughed. "There's nothing to say? So you were just not going to speak to me every again because there wasn't anything to say?"  
Tom rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean. Just thought we could leave the events of the party at the party. I don't really want to talk about it."  
"We have to talk about it," Xephos said, his smile fading. "I don't want you to think that I'm... Whatever. I was drunk out of my mind and trying to forget about Lomadia. I shouldn't have done what I did, and I want to apologize."  
Tom raised his hand, but Xephos talked over him.  
"No, don't just act like everything's cool and there isn't anything to say sorry for. It was just the alcohol making me do stupid things."  
"Xeph," Tom interrupted again. "Everything's fine. I need to get to class. We'll talk later, okay?"  
Without waiting for a response, Tom turned and walked away.  
He waited until Xephos had left, before taking a seat on the ground and putting his head against the lockers. He had to tell himself that it was a mistake. What happened that night meant nothing, it was all the alcohol. Xephos had said so.  
There was no chance. Xephos was his friend, and nothing more.  
He forcefully wiped a single tear from the corner of his eye before getting up and going to class.  
Xephos was only two steps around the corner, and sat in the same position. Tom had rejected his advances. He needed to let whatever he felt go, for the sake of their friendship. He shouldn't... Couldn't... Have these feelings.  
Tom just didn't like him like that.

Zylus sat down with Rythian for lunch, and silence descended upon them almost immediately after a polite and formal greeting from Zylus.  
Zylus began to say something, but Rythian got in first.  
"I don't want things to be uncomfortable between us, okay? I shouldn't have reacted the way I did, but... Everything is just too complicated for me right now. The break-up with Zoey really has done my head in, and I don't give a shit about your sexuality, whatever it is, I just..."  
Rythian trailed off, and Zylus just sat and continued eating his sandwich. Rythian looked at him, but Zylus refused to meet his eyes.  
"Say something." Rythian said, almost pleading. He didn't want to offend Zylus, but surely it was better to tell him straight what was going on in his head.  
"I just want to ask a question." Zylus finally said. "After you give me your answer, and I want you to be honest, we can forget the whole thing."  
Rythian grinned. "Of course, anything."  
Zylus put his sandwich down and looked at a nearby wall, not wanting Rythian to see the emotion on his face.  
"Is there a chance. I mean, even the remotest chance, that we'll ever be more than friends?"  
This sent Rythian into a tail spin. He really didn't feel as though he could ever be attracted to Zylus in the way he wanted him to. But if there was absolutely no chance, then would Zylus want to keep spending time with him? Their friendship had been something to cling onto while other parts of his life fell away, and he wasn't ready to leave that behind.  
"Yes."  
The word just fell out of his mouth.  
Zylus sat perfectly still, and released a deep breath.  
"Okay. Cool."  
They ate the rest of their lunch quietly, and parted ways soon after, but Rythian couldn't stop kicking himself internally. Why had he said that.  
This was only going to end badly for both of them, and now he risked losing Zylus more so than if he'd just answered truthfully.

Trott dashed out of class, and started making his way to his mother's workplace.  
Unfortunately, before he'd even left the school block, Smith stepped out from behind a tree. He'd left class early to make sure he could catch Trott and have a proper talk with him before everything really went to shit, but Trott stepped right past him without sparing him a glance.  
"Trott, come on, we need to talk." Smith called as he jogged to catch up with Trott.  
"No, we don't." Trott said, stopping dead in his tracks and giving Smith a glare that could wither flowers in a matter of seconds.  
"We don't have to talk, because there's nothing to say." Trott continued. "You kissed Strippin. I bet you have tonnes of lines ready. 'I was drunk', or perhaps 'he was the one who kissed me'. Or even 'he took advantage of me'. I don't care what your reason was, you made choices that led to you being alone in that bedroom with him, and that's not something that somebody who gives a shit about their actual relationship does."  
Smith felt tears brimming, but he kept his voice from cracking. "Look, I fucked up really bad, don't you think I know that? But Strippin is nothing to me. You know that you and Ross are the ones I really care about, regardless of my actions. It was just a stupid, dumb kiss and it shouldn't have happened but it did and I really just want to move past it."  
Trott's voice grew louder. "Yeah, it did happen. And if you think I'm just gonna forget about it and pretend everything is just fine, then you're so, so wrong. I don't want to be with you if it means that every goddamn second I have to be looking around my shoulder to make sure you're not making out with some other asshole."  
Smith had his hands in fists now, but he still wasn't letting himself cry.  
"Have you told Ross?" He asked through clenched teeth.  
Trott shook his head sadly. "I haven't told him a thing. And I'm not going to, because I can't bring myself to have to watch his face crumble when he finds out. When he thinks about you kissing somebody else. So congrats, you've probably fucked my relationship with him too. You've really outdone yourself."  
"Trott, come on, please," Smith took a step towards him.  
"Don't you touch me!" Trott yelled, shoving Smith aside. He started running, tears flowing like tiny rivers down his face. The activity had caused a couple of cuts on his leg to open and he felt blood trickling down his leg as he ran to safety, away from all the bullshit.  
Smith hung his head in shame, and finally tears started streaming. He fucked up. He fucked up so bad, and he didn't think that it was going to be fixable.  
He threw a rock hard against a nearby hedge, before running in the opposite direction of Trott. Once he was well away, he took his phone out.  
One new message, from Strippin.  
"U OK?"

Ross finally stepped out from behind the hedge, with the rock Smith had thrown clenched in his hand. He opened his palm to stare at it, like it had the answers to all the problems, could solve the argument he'd just overheard.  
He threw it behind him, and went home. He wasn't even sure of the ground beneath his feet anymore, and he puked half way up his driveway.  
He didn’t sleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath.  
> Sorry about the shorter-than-usual chapter,  
> And as usual, let me know how you're feeling about the story.  
> <3 Love you my friends. <3


	15. I bare my skin and I count my sins

Lalna sat uncomfortably at the dining room table at Nano's house, using his fork to roll peas over the well worn surface of the plate. He'd been over plenty of times, and considered himself to be pretty well acquainted with Nano's parents, but this time was different; he'd been invited as Nano's boyfriend, as opposed to best friend. The difference in mood was staggering.  
The whole evening was everybody dancing around small talk, trying to avoid directly mentioning the relationship: Nano's parents because they didn't want to embarrass their daughter, and Nano and Lalna because they wanted to avoid lying directly to her parent's faces as much as possible.  
Finally dessert rolled around and Nano took the opportunity to excuse herself and Lalna, complaining of a sore stomach. Nano's mother called after them to make sure Nano stuck to the "door open" policy when boys were over.  
She flopped onto her bed with her hands over her eyes.  
"Well," she said, "That was a fun meal."  
Lalna sprawled himself over the fancy rug on her floor and smiled at her.  
"It was uncomfortable. I didn't think being your 'boyfriend' would change how your parents see me this much." He pouted.  
Nano threw a pillow at him. "They don't actually think any different of you. Well, maybe they do. I think Dad was just thinking of all the times they'd left us alone together in the house. No doubt he'll assume I'll be pregnant by tomorrow."  
Lalna was stuffing the pillow behind his head when he heard the word "pregnant" and screwed up his face.  
"Don't even say the word. We're not even dating and I still have anxiety that you're gonna get preggo via osmosis or whatever."  
Nano started chuckling, and then burst into all-out laughter. Lalna joined in, and soon their giggling could be heard by most of the neighborhood.  
Wiping tears from his eyes, Lalna stood up and reached into his backpack that he'd thrown onto Nano's desk chair, picking out his stripy pyjamas and a bag of toiletries.  
"I'm gonna go get changed, do you want to put something on Netflix or whatever?"  
Nano grinned. Their regular routine. It was nice to return to it after the show they had to put on all day every day to make sure people believed they were together. She nodded as he made his way out of the room.  
Lalna hummed his way down to the bathroom and quickly got changed, sparing a moment to scan his face for pimples before brushing his teeth and humming right on back to Nano's room.  
Apparently she hadn't heard him coming, because she was in the process of searching her drawers for pants and was stood, leaning over the dresser in only a baggy t-shirt and her underwear.  
"Sorry-" Lalna began, raising his hand to his eyes.  
But then he saw the marks on her legs.  
Nano jumped, quickly wrapping a beige towel from the floor around her waist.  
"Jeez, Lal, heard of knocking?" Nano asked, wide eyed.  
"Sorry," he apologized again. "What's up with your thighs though?"  
Nano bit her lip and looked away from her friend.  
"Are they what I think they are?" Lalna asked, concern written all over his face.  
He walked closer to her and wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head. "You never told me." He whispered.  
"You didn't need to know" She mumbled into his chest.  
At the doorway, Nano's mother cleared her throat, and the teenagers jumped apart like a bolt of lightning had hit them.  
"I'm just going to bed. There's a little dessert left in the fridge if you want any. I expect this door to remain open through the night. Sleep well." With a little wave, and a disapproving frown, Nano's mother left them alone.  
Nano looked down at her towel-wrapped lower half and frowned, uncomfortable that her mother had found them in such a compromising position. Lalna didn't let the interruption distract him though.  
"I needed to know." He said, holding her by her shoulders and staring into her eyes.  
"I'm sorry." Nano said, pulling away. "I'm slowly stopping, but it takes time. It's hard not to do it when shit hits the fan and it's the only way I've ever had to cope with stress."  
She sat on the bed and pulled a pair of fat pants over her legs.  
"I guess. Look, I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life okay, but I'd really appreciate a heads up when you feel like total arse so that I have a chance to make sure you're okay, and maybe stop you from hurting."  
Nano took Lalna's hand tightly and smiled at him.  
"Thank you. Now can we watch this show? I'm really tired."  
Lalna grinned. "Absolutely!"  
He pulled a big purple blanket off of Nano's bed and wrapped it around them both, lifting her off of her feet and blowing a raspberry on her shoulder, making her squeal.

Ross hesitated for only a moment before pressing his index finger down on the 'install' button on his phone. Trott wasn't talking to him, and he was refusing to talk to Smith. Their whole perfect relationship had been pulled down in the few seconds it took Smith to kiss Strippin.  
Anger poured over Ross like a waterfall while he watched the little loading bar on his phone's screen. Sure, he was angry with Smith, but at the same time he was still in love, therefore the thought of Strippin's stupid grin bore the brunt of most of Ross' hatred.  
He was just so wild with anger, he couldn't think straight. He didn't know how to live with emotions this strong. But he knew how to get a release.  
Ross tapped the freshly installed 'Grindr' icon on his phone, and had kicked up several conversations in the space of five minutes.  
The relationship had crumbled. Now he was free to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and that included sex with whoever he wanted.

...  
djh3max: Haha, yeah. Are you busy right now? ;)  
xXbottomboyXx: Nah, I'm not doing anything. Wanna hang out?  
djh3max: Sure, let me shower and I'll be there. :D  
xXbottomboyXx: Do you want me to bring some stuff?  
djh3max: I have condoms and stuff.  
xXbottomboyXx: Not exactly what I meant. ;)  
djh3max: Oh???  
xXbottomboyXx: I have some pills, if you're into it.  
djh3max: Oh. Sure, why the fuck not.  
xXbottomboyXx: Awesome. See you soon. :)

Ross hopped out of the shower and realized he was nervous. He'd took a hit of a bong once, but that was as far as his drug experience went, and it wasn't exactly pleasant. Just weird. Taking pills and having sex seemed like a big jump.  
He wiped down the mirror and looked into his own eyes.  
Fuck it. He can do what he wanted. Nobody cared any more. Trott wouldn't be on his case, Smith wouldn't talk down to him for making bad decisions.  
The world was his oyster now.  
He grabbed his backpack and headed out the door.

Smith arrived at Strippin's place, and looked up at the house with a frown. He'd made a mistake, sure, but it was just a kiss. Trott's reaction was uncalled for, and he must've told Ross because he wasn't answering any of Smith's calls any more.  
He didn't know exactly why he came, but he knew that he and Strippin had to talk.  
Strippin spotted Smith walking up the drive, and ran down to the door to let him in. Smith stood uncomfortably in the doorway, rubbing his arm, almost embarrassed for turning up.  
"Hi," Strippin said, gesturing for Smith to come in slowly, as if he was unsure of himself.  
Smith took the invitation and made his way inside, following Strippin to a lavish leather sofa in the middle of a sunroom.  
"So," both boys started at the same time. They smiled at eachother.  
"You first," Strippin insisted.  
"I think Ross and Trott are done with me." Smith said. "Trott was really upset about the kiss, and he told Ross so now he's not talking to me either. I guess I should blame it on the alcohol, but I can't quite bring myself to. I kissed you on purpose, it was what I wanted. It was a mistake, but it's done now, so I figure maybe we could..."  
His sentence was cut short by Strippin pulling him into a deep kiss.  
"Forget them," Strippin said between kisses. "You're better off with me anyway, trust me. I can do things they can't even dream of."  
Smith laughed and pulled Strippin closer. "Like what?"  
"Let me show you," Strippin moaned, standing up and offering Smith his hand.  
He took it eagerly, and the two made their way to Strippin's bedroom, where this whole thing had started. Strippin pulled his own t-shirt over his head and pushed Smith against the headboard.  
Smith's heart was almost beating out of his chest, as Strippin unbuckled his belt.

The bathtub's floor was covered in a thin layer of blood.  
It ran down Trott's arm in tiny rivers, and every time it threatened to run dry Trott lifted the razor again. He'd broken one of his shaving razors to get at something really sharp, and he had small cuts all over his hands from handling it poorly.  
He smiled and cried and just cycled through emotions as he sat on the floor of the bathtub.  
He didn't have to think. All he did was feel. And it was bliss.  
His paradise was shattered when a knock came upon the door.  
"Trott? You've been in there for a good half hour now. Get out before we run out of hot water!" His mother called.  
He lost his grip on the blade and it clattered to the ground, splattering blood onto the walls of the tub.  
"What was that?" She asked, alarm in her voice.  
"Nothing!" Trott called out, anger evident in his voice. "It was the soap. I'll be out soon."  
"Good." Trott's mother replied simply, content to leave her grumpy child in the shower a little longer.  
Trott looked at his arm.  
Jesus, everything was a mess.  
He used the showerhead to wash the blood away, wrapped his arm up in a bandage and put on a happy face because dinner was ready and he ate politely with his family, going through the motions, but now he couldn't stop thinking about Smith.  
But it's okay! He reasoned. He knew how to deal with these emotions now.  
He pressed his fingers into the bandage hidden by his long sleeve shirt and winced.  
Then smiled.  
Sips ran to catch up with Sjin. He was a fast little bugger when he wanted to be.  
"Sjin, wait up, please. You haven't said a word to me since the party."  
Sjin rolled his eyes. "I couldn't imagine why. You made such a scene, and you embarrassed us both."  
"I'm sorry," Sips said quietly. "I didn't mean to. I was just frustrated. You were all over the party, making friends, chatting to people and I felt like I was being left behind."  
"Well you weren't. You know you weren't, you know I love you, but you threw a fit like a child and it wasn't pretty. You need to learn to control your outbursts like that, because it really wasn't a whole lot of fun."  
Sips crossed his arms. "You think it was fun for me? To see you flirting with everybody there? To not be able to just go up and put my arm around you? You know I have problems in social situations but you don't make any effort to help. You just drop me like yesterday's newspaper and leave me to sit quietly in a corner."  
Sjin began walking faster still.  
"I make an effort. I introduce you to people." His voice slowly became louder. "You just ignore every attempt I make to get you out of your shell, and that's not my fault, it's yours. You need to sort your shit out, Sips. Because this relationship keeps getting harder and harder to maintain when you can't handle a conversation with anybody but me."  
Sips stopped dead in his tracks. "Whatever." He turned and began running away from the school.  
"Sips!" Sjin called after him. He didn't turn around. Sjin thought he'd been a little unkind, but not enough to cause all this. It was just another of Sips' tantrums, and he decided that instead of comforting him, he'd let Sips come around. He had to understand that Sjin wasn't gonna be there to comfort him every time something went a little wrong.  
With a feeling of unease, Sjin kept heading towards the school.  
Sips just kept running, all the way back to his house.  
He spent a lot of time on the roadside, um-ing and ah-ing about whether or not to go inside and face the wrath of his parents for wagging, but decided he wasn't going to sit outside all day. He could fake a stomach ache and go to sleep. Maybe he'd feel better tomorrow.  
The moment he walked in though, hell fell upon his shoulders.  
"What the fuck are you doing home?" His mother yelled, rage making her face bright red.  
"I don't think you understand, school isn't just something you can decide to do. You've probably been to, what, less that half of your classes this year?"  
Sips ignored his mother and went to his room, tears in his eyes.  
"Don't you ignore me!" She screamed. "If you're not gonna go to school then do something with your life, get out of the house, go get a job. We're not going to let you mope around here for the rest of your life."  
“So you’re going to kick me out then? Are you really going to put your only child out on the street?!”  
“You’re not even my child!”  
Silence filled the house at her words. All of Sips’ anger left him and was replaced with confusion.  
“What’s that suppose to mean?”  
While Sips’ anger had left, his mothers didn’t and her reply was filled with as much anger as hate.  
“You aren’t my child. We adopted you after your birth parents abandoned you on the side of a road. Honestly seems like they had the right idea. I wish we had picked one of the other children over you.”  
Sips’ world shattered in front of his eyes. He couldn’t find the words to describe the burning feeling in his chest, so he simply turned around and headed into his room, closing the door without a sound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some strange reason this chapter was really hard to get written, but here it is.  
> Hope you guys like it. :)


	16. I was a validation on your sleeve

Sips grabbed his third and final pair of jeans up from the floor and flung them toward the backpack resting on his bed. He was packing up everything he owned. He knew when he wasn't wanted, and was eager to get away from the people who clearly resented him so much.  
Even Sjin's attitude toward him...  
If his birth parents hadn't loved him, and his adopted parents couldn't learn to love him, then what chance did he have of being in a relationship? He was bound to wreck it, regardless of how hard he tried.  
It seemed like already the whole relationship was falling apart. He and Sjin couldn't go five minutes without bringing the conversation back around to the fight at the party. Sjin would be so much better off without him as a distraction.  
He unlocked his phone and navigated to the town's bus schedule. He jumped and dropped his phone when it began vibrating, the cell clattering to the floor loudly. He bent over to pick it up to find Sjin's name displayed on the screen.  
He stared at it for what felt like hours, before decisively pressing the decline button, and stifling a sniffle. The less he knew about what was going on, the easier it would be for him to forget.  
He returned to the bus timetable with confidence, and within the hour he was sitting under a shelter with two other people, waiting on the bus out of town.   
The male didn't pay Sips any heed, done up in a business suit a size too small. But the young woman eyes Sips up, and it soon became clear to Sips what line of work she was in. He avoided making eye contact, but he could feel her eyes on him. She probably figured he was just shy.  
Luckily, when Sips' bus pulled into the station she made no move to follow him. He handed over his ticket and his bag to the driver, and the man raised his eyes but asked no questions.  
He passed the dreary faces of the other passengers as he made his way to the back seat of the bus, and knew that soon he would be the same picture of boredom.  
He settled in and closed his eyes, not bothering to look back out of the window as the bus pulled away.

Kids rushed in a river all around him, and Sjin was the rock that parted them all, unmoving. First period had just ended and Sjin had already left four voicemails on Sips' phone. He felt a sickness in the pit of his stomach that weighed him down. No matter how bad their arguments had got, Sips always answered a phone call.  
Unless he decided that he was finished.  
The only way to know for sure that he was okay was to go and see him. He hadn't been in class, so he must have gone home. Sjin finally joined the flow of bodies making their way through the hallways, and rushed towards the exit of the school grounds.  
"Sjin!" Somebody called behind him, as he left the bounds of the schoolyard. He ignored them and began running, desperate to get to Sips. Whatever had been said, surely didn't mean that they were over. Sjin wasn't ready to give up like that. They could make it through this stupid argument. They could make it through anything.  
Sjin kept running through the stitch in his side. Nothing was going to keep him from his boyfriend. And once Sips saw that, everything was going to be fine.  
He burst into the house, making Sips' mother glare at him.  
"What the hell are you doing here? You're both wagging today?"  
Sjin's mouth opened but no sound came out. He was so ready to confront Sips and make up that he was stunned by the sudden scolding.  
"I-I'm sorry, no, Sips just hasn't been answering my calls and I wanted to make sure he was okay." Sjin stuttered. Sips' mother rolled her eyes and frowned unpleasantly.  
"He's probably asleep in his room. You got 5 minutes. I need to get to work and there's no way I'm leaving you here to ditch school too. I'll give you a ride back if you're quick."  
Sjin mumbled a thank you and walked quickly to Sips' room. He knocked on the door softly.  
"Sips. It's me, Sjin. I'm sorry about what happened this morning but... You weren't answering my calls and I got worried. Are you okay?"  
After not receiving a reply, Sjin knocked a little harder, and the door swung inwards.  
"Sips?" Sjin called gently, as he stepped inside.  
Sips wasn't there, and judging by the state of the drawers and closet, he didn't plan on being back any time soon. All of Sips' clothes were gone, and the room felt eerily empty. Sjin felt his stomach barrel roll, and he sat down on the bed.  
"Come on, it's time to go." Sips' mother called as she made her way to Sips' bedroom.  
When she arrived, her mouth dropped open. "Where is he?" She asked, confused.  
"Not a clue." Sjin said flatly.  
"Shit." She mumbled. "Shit shit shit." She rubbed at her face with her hands.  
"What's the matter?" Sjin asked, standing up. "What happened?"  
She looked at Sjin guiltily. "I didn't get much sleep last night. It's not my fault."  
Sjin's heart sank. "What isn't your fault?"  
"This morning..." She took a deep breath. "This morning, I was very upset about Sips being home. I told him he couldn't keep living here if he was going to have no respect for the opportunities we give him. And I told him... That he was adopted."  
Sjin winced. "He's adopted? And you just blurted it out?"  
She just glared at him. "You're just a kid, I don't expect you to understand."  
Sjin didn't say another word. He started running out of the house.  
"Where are you going?" Sips' mother called after him.  
"To find my boyfriend!" Sjin yelled back, his voice filled with hatred for her.  
It was Sjin’s fault. It wasn't about their fight. Everything was going to be fine.  
He just had to find him.

By the time Sjin got back to school, the bell had just gone off to signal lunch time.  
With a stroke of luck, he ran straight into Nano.  
"Hey!" He called aggressively, making her jump back. "Do you know where Lalna is?"  
With wide eyes, Nano gestured down the hall. "I'm on my way to meet him now. Is everything okay, Sjin?"  
Sjin took off towards the courtyard, words spilling from his mouth. "I'm gonna borrow him talk to him later okay thanks bye!"  
She stared after Sjin for a while, confusion digging furrows in her forehead. Eventually, she turned on her heels and started toward the library. She had homework anyway.  
Sjin ran and ran, apologizing to students as he shouldered them out of his way. Eventually he spotted Lalna's large puff of hair above a clique of giggling girls.  
"Lal!" He yelled.  
Lalna turned quickly, eyes wide and apologetic. "It wasn't me, I promise," he said, raising his hands up above his head in surrender.  
Sjin shook his head in confusion. "What? What wasn't you?"  
Lalna frowned. "I figured you were gonna tell me."  
"Forget it," Sjin said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I need your help. Sips is missing and I need to find him."  
"What?!" Lalna yelled, his eyes bugging out of his head. "Missing? Where? Since when?"  
"I don't know, but I can't search for him alone. Will you help me?"  
Lalna smiled. "You know me, always down for a good Sips hunt. Where do we start?"  
Sjin looked thoughtful for a moment. "Probably Fort Fartface, I guess."  
Lalna put on a thoughtful face. "But if he's not there, we'll have to keep looking. It'll take all day on foot. I'll call Xephos, he can drive us." Sjin put an appreciative hand on Lalna's shoulder as he took out his phone.  
"Xeph, hey. Sips is missing and we need a car to search for him. You busy?"  
Silence.  
"What the fuck are you talking about!? Hello?" Xephos yelled down the phone.  
After a few minutes of Lalna explaining in a little more detail, Xephos was finally brought up to speed with what was going on.  
"Uh, I'm having lunch with Tom... But I guess I could take a rain check. Finding Sips is more important. I'll meet you in the carpark in five minutes, okay?"  
Lalna shut his phone, and he and Sjin made their way quickly to the carpark.  
Xephos flicked Tom a quick text and pulled his keys out of his pocket.

Xephos: Hey Tom, we'll do lunch another time k? Something's come up.  
Tom glared at his phone. If Xephos had no interest in being friends after the events at the party, it'd be a whole lot easier just to come out and tell him.  
He didn't even bother to reply. Xephos didn't owe him anything. If he didn't want to hang out anymore then fine. Tom wasn't going to give him the pleasure of toying with him.

After a long day of driving from one corner of town to the other, all three boys were tiring out. No sign of Sips anywhere. Xephos and Lalna could see the hope slowly draining from Sjin's eyes as the hours dragged on.  
Eventually, the sun began its final descent for the day, and the shadows of town grew longer and stretched across the road.  
"Sjin," Xephos began.  
"Just a little longer." Sjin begged. "He's around here, we just need to find him. Please."  
Lalna made eye contact with Xephos and gave a small shrug.  
"Fine." Said Xephos, exasperated. "We'll keep going. But once six o'clock rolls by, we're going home and starting up again tomorrow. We'll have all weekend to find him, okay?"  
"Fine." Sjin said, folding his arms and laying back in the back seat.  
He knew he didn't have the right to be angry at Xephos and Lalna for wanting to stop. He should have been more appreciative of their help, but every time they checked somewhere else, and Sips still wasn't there, some piece of him broke.  
He just found himself being more and more frustrated.  
"What if Sips isn't in town any more?" Lalna said suddenly, breaking the repetitive sound of tyres on the road.  
"What do you mean?" Sjin asked, concerned.  
Xephos nodded along with Lalna. "He could have left town. Either hitchhiking, or on a bus. It would explain why he took everything with him. He wasn't going to be coming back for anything."  
Sjin sniffled. "He wasn't going to be coming back for me."  
Lalna put a comforting hand on Sjin's shoulder and smiled. Xephos pulled a quick and very illegal U-turn and started towards the bus station.   
"If he was hitchhiking we have no way of finding him, but if he took a bus there will be a record of it somewhere."

"Have you seen this guy?" Sjin asked, pressing his phone up against the plastic window between himself and the cashier of the bus terminal.  
The guy shrugged and didn't look up from his crossword puzzle.  
"Please."  
The pleading in Sjin's voice prompted a quick glance up from the man. He sighed, and went back to his crossword.  
"Well?" Sjin said, getting angry. "Have you seen him or not?"  
The guy shrugged.  
Just before Sjin started throwing punches at the window, Xephos took him aside and Lalna rolled up to the window, putting on his smoothest voice.  
"You know what I think?" Lalna asked the man. He didn't react. "I think you've seen our friend, and perhaps you might just need a little assistance remembering."  
The guy shrugged and cleared his throat.  
Lalna was undeterred, and he pulled out a small wad of cash from his backpack.  
"How many of these little babies are you gonna want, to give us the information we're looking for?"  
The guy glanced up. Then shrugged. Started filling in a word.  
Lalna peeled five twenties out and slammed them on the table.  
The guy glanced up. Looked between Lalna and the money.  
He shrugged.  
Lalna's eye twitched ever so slightly. He pulled out two more twenties and placed them down.  
The guy looked up. Shrugged. Reached out a hand to take the money.  
Lalna quickly took the money out of his reach and glared at him.  
"The information." He said sternly.  
The guy shrugged.  
Lalna felt the rage building within him.  
"Fine! Take the goddamn money. Here. Take it."  
Lalna threw the money through the gap under the window, and the man smiled.  
He named a small town, about two hours drive away.  
"Thank you." Lalna said sarcastically, before walking over to his two friends while he composed himself.  
"Guys, I'm the smoothest operator there is. Got the information we need. Sips went out of town."  
Xephos looked at him drily. "Smooth as heck, Lal. Where'd you get the money?"  
Lalna smiled smugly at him. "I always keep money for emergencies."  
Sjin smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.  
"Guys, I'm gonna get a ticket too. I have to find him." He said, tears brimming his eyes.  
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Xephos asked. "I'll take you."  
Sjin smiled at him. "I don't expect you guys to use up your weekends looking for my runaway boyfriend. It's okay, I can go by myself."  
"No way," Lalna chimed in. "We'll take you. We'll find Sips, and we'll be back before you can say 'Whos ranium'."  
Sjin smiled at his friends, his face now wet with tears.  
"Thank you guys. Let's bring him home."  
The three boys piled into the car, and took off on the road out of town, just as the sun dipped below the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The hunt for Sips begins.  
> Will our heroes find him?  
> Will he be okay if they do?  
> Find out next time, on Dragon Ball *cough* *splutter*  
> On Love is a Polaroid!


	17. I bet my life on you

Sjin stared out the windows of Xephos' car, watching the coloured lines as they passed swiftly before his eyes and then disappeared behind them. He sighed and his breath fogged up the glass in front of him, blurring his vision.  
They'd been searching all weekend, staying at backpackers, and between the three of them the car smelt strongly of teenage boy. They hadn't anticipated spending any nights away from home, so they were still wearing the same set of clothing they'd left town in, two days after leaving. Many times Xephos had suggested making their way back to town, and Sjin hadn't had a bar of it, pressing for just a while longer, just until the next town, just until the next gas station.  
As much as he hated to admit it, even he was tiring of the non-stop driving, fast food for every meal of the day and sleeping uncomfortably in the car. But desperation to find Sips grew with every minute of not finding him, in equal amounts as his weariness and need to go home and have a good night's rest.  
So they kept on, and on, driving to all the towns they could find within a reasonable range of their homes.  
Xephos cleared his throat loudly and Lalna sat up groggily in his position in the front seat. He'd been sleeping for the vast majority of the ride, usually in the back seat so he could lay down. Sjin felt his heart sink. He knew what Xephos was going to say.  
"Well guys," Xephos said, the exhaustion plain in his voice. "It's 11am, I'm tired, you're tired. If Sips wanted to be found, I think we'd have seen him by now." He made eye contact with Sjin through the rear view mirror. "It's going to be a long ride home, and we have school tomorrow. We can get a good night's sleep, and maybe Sips will be back for school. I just don't think we can keep searching until the world ends, I'm sorry Sjin."  
Disappointment crumpled Sjin's heart. He had so much hope that they would find him. They had to find him. But he couldn't expect Xephos to just keep running after his boyfriend like this. He had to know when to give in, and it looks like this was the time.  
Wiping an angry tear from his eye, Sjin spoke softly.  
"C-can we just keep going until the next town? Just a little farther? We can stop, have lunch, and then turn around and head home." He begged.  
Xephos looked skeptical.  
"It's a while away. If we go, I can't guarantee that I'll be able to drive all the way home today. We might end up missing some of Monday's classes."  
"It's fine!" Said Sjin, jumping up in his seat. One look at Xephos's face though, and he sank back. He couldn't really expect them to miss class, especially after they'd given their entire weekend to him. He curled his legs up into his chest and returned to his watching of the road marks passing them by.  
In the front, Lalna looked at Xephos, making exaggerated eye and eyebrow movements that were clearly trying to convey something. Two quick eye movements, a head nod towards Sjin and a meaningful look later, Xephos got the message.  
"Okay," Xephos said through a loud sigh. "One more town, and that's it. We'll turn back after lunch, and hopefully I'll be awake enough to get us back home tonight."  
Sjin smiled gratefully.  
They were going to find him, he could feel it.

Xephos pulled up outside a small cafe, "The Fat Pigeon". Children's screams could be heard from the playground across a small creek, while their parents sat at fancy outside tables protected by a large blue sun sail above them, talking quietly over coffee.  
Lalna was first out of the car, racing inside to use the bathroom. Sjin was a close second, with his stomach rumbles almost louder than the laughter of the kids.  
They sat down at a small corner table, a large pane of glass giving them a view of the road and the many cars driving along it. The cafe was packed full of people; Mothers with prams, young couples and older men reading copies of the paper. It was clear, given the size of the town, that this was the biggest social spot of the area.  
Very quickly a pretty young waitress made her way over to them to take their orders, her brunette hair bouncing lightly with every step she took. She wore a name tag on her apron, which read: Hello, my name is Minnie.  
Xephos and Sjin made an effort to ignore Lalna's blatant staring, but Minnie seemed charmed and smiled warmly at the three. The only moment her grin faltered was when Lalna's order exceeded four items, and after she'd returned to the kitchen Xephos ribbed him playfully. "Minnie, amiright?" He said, laughing at Duncan's pout.  
After ordering, Sjin excused himself and got up to stretch his legs, eager to go for a walk after spending so much time cramped in the car. Of course, he was also interested in taking a look around the town, eager to find something, anything that might lead him to Sips.  
How could he just leave? Without a word of goodbye. Sjin had wondered since the first day if perhaps not only had Sips been running from his adoptive parents, but Sjin also. What if they found him and he didn't want to talk? Refused to say a word? It didn't matter, of course. Sjin was going to find him, and make him answer for running away.  
He walked slowly along a slim footpath, attentive to everything going on around him, searching desperately for an indication that Sips had been here. This was it, his final chance.  
After walking a block, he was ready to turn back. His food would almost be ready by now, and he didn't want to worry Xephos or Lalna. They'd done so much for him, and the last thing he wanted to do was give them another missing boy to find.  
Just as he made to turn back, he noticed the information center across the road, with a poster of a picturesque lake, with jet skis and inflatables, and a beautiful forest surrounding it. Gears in Sjin's mind started to work overtime, and with a snap decision, he ran across the road. There was something about that lake...  
He didn't even see the oncoming bus.

Xephos sat quietly at the cafe table while Lalna sat opposite, digging into his BLT sandwich. Plates of other assorted foods surrounded him, while Xephos' small plate of hot chips rested in front of them, not yet touched.  
"Where is he?" Asked Xephos, concern clear in his voice.  
"Maybe he found Sips?" Lalna said, although his mouth was full so it sounded a lot more like "Murb e fund Sips". Xephos didn't even crack a smile, and he felt a little sick.  
Suddenly, the door burst open and Sjin limped as quickly as he could to their table. All eyes turned to the teenager moving desperately and loudly through the cafe, and Minnie looked over at Xephos, confusion written on her face.  
Xephos stood. "What the hell happened?" He asked, taking in Sjin's dirty clothes and sweaty face.  
"I think I know where he is." Said Sjin, out of breath.  
"I meant what happened to you." Xephos said, gesturing to Sjin's body.  
He waved his hand dismissively. "I got hit by a bus, but it was moving slow so it's fine, I'm not really hurt. The important thing is, I saw a poster of a lake. Sips described it to me once, it was one of his favourite places to go when he was younger. His parents used to take him there on holidays and stuff. It looked exactly the same, Xeph, I just know that's where he is!"  
Minnie had made her way to the table. "Is everything okay here? I'm going to need to ask you to settle down, you're disturbing some of our other customers."  
Sjin turned to her, and she flinched back from the wild look in his eyes. "How do we get to the lake?" He demanded.  
Her eyes flickered to Xephos, and he nodded gently, encouraging her to answer.  
"Uh, it's about two hours north of here. Just keep following the road you came in on and you'll see the turn off in just over half an hour."  
"Great, come on let's go!" Sjin yelled, grabbing Lalna up from the table and making his way to the door. Xephos looked after them with wide eyes, before picking his wallet from his pocket and throwing down a generous tip. "Sorry," he said quickly, before following the other two out to the car.  
"Sjin!" Xephos called across the parking lot. "She said it was going to be another two hours! If we go up there, there's no way we're getting home tonight. We'll almost certainly miss classes tomorrow."  
Sjin pulled desperately at the car door handle, willing Xephos to unlock it. "I don't care, Xeph. I understand if you want to go home, but make the choice now. Because otherwise I need to start hitch hiking before he leaves."  
"Listen to yourself!" Xephos shouted. "You don't know he's there. You're not going to damn well hitch hike all the way to that lake. What if he's not? What if you then have to find a way all the way home?"  
Sjin looked hard at Xephos. "He's there."  
Xephos put his face in his hands. "Fine, let's get going. We're not letting you go alone. But this is seriously our last stop, Sjin. We're not going any further."  
As Xephos leaned down to unlock the car, Lalna shot Sjin a thumbs up and an encouraging smile.  
Sjin felt uneasy. He had been so sure when he saw the picture. But now Xephos was frustrated, the car journey stretched ahead of them and his hip ached from where the bus had knocked him down. It was all he could do to hope that he was right.

Sips pulled his shorts off, throwing them into a pile with the rest of his clothes. He was down to just his underwear, and the cool evening air made him shiver, goosebumps appearing up and down his body. He looked up, and began climbing the tree. Branch by branch, he made his way up, the tree cutting into his hands and bare feet. He almost fell at one point, grazing his knee on a chunk of bark.  
He didn't let himself notice, he just kept climbing, until finally he reached it.  
The rope, tied up on one of the highest branches.  
The journey here had been tough and long, but it was finally time for him to relax and forget about everything. All the trouble that had come his way, it meant nothing now. He could finally put all of it behind him, with this one act of bravery.

Xephos drove slowly down a large hill, passing lots of modern, fancy lake houses. The ones that rich people spend millions on, and almost never visit. Sjin watched all these buildings pass, and with every inch closer the knot in his stomach grew larger and tighter.  
"Can we hurry up?" Sjin asked, pressing Xephos to increase his speed regardless of the limit.  
He drove just a little faster, and they passed a playground, an empty swimwear hire, and a run-down shack that appeared to be for maintenance of the park surrounding the lake.  
Xephos kept going until they were right up against the water. They could hear it lapping the shore even from inside the car. Birds sung in the twilight, but the trees were silent with the lack of wind. It was almost eerie.  
Sjin suddenly gave a cry, making both Lalna and Xephos jump, and without any hesitation opened the car door and jumped out, ignoring the fact that they hadn't actually come to a stop yet.  
He rolled onto the grass, wincing in pain from his bruised body, but still he was standing upright in just seconds. He began running. He could see the figure, high in the tree. He could see the rope. There was no way he could get there in time.  
Sjin took a deep breath.  
Sips took a deep breath.  
"Sips!" Sjin screamed, as loud as he possibly could. Birds flew up from the trees, and Xephos and Lalna shuddered, goosebumps rising on their flesh. The few people on the edge of the lake turned in shock to where the noise had come from.  
But it was too late to stop Sips. He was already falling, his feet leaving the thin branch behind...

... And he swung out, over the lake, rope in hand.  
He felt the air rush around his bare skin as he flew in an arc, down, down towards the ground, and then back up over the smooth surface of the lake. Releasing his grip on the rope, he shot out through the sky.  
From here, he saw everything. Saw a young version of himself on the shore, playing in the sand. Saw his first ever jet ski race over the lake, huge waves left in his wake. He saw a group of young families up near the barbecues, himself running between his parent's legs.  
He saw himself, standing at the bottom of the tree. All the other kids had done it. They'd swung out on the old rope, and then fallen gracefully into the water below. But Sips could never do it. Could never work up the courage. They laughed at him, called him a wimp.  
Now he was free.  
Then, he saw Xephos' car. The two figures standing next to it. And running across the sandy shore, another figure. Sjin. His one love. The one person who had always cared, always loved him, always supported him.  
Sips smiled calmly as he hit the water.

Sjin raced into the lake without sparing a moment, instantly soaking his whole body and the clothes that covered it. He struggled to swim with all the weight, but he found strength from some hidden reserve.  
Sips. He'd found him.  
A dark head of hair popped up from the waves caused by the jump.  
"Sjin?"  
"Sips!"  
"What the hell are you doing?"  
"I..." Sjin began crying. "I had to find you. I was so scared."  
Sips swam over to where Sjin had begun to flounder in the water.   
"It's okay," Sips said, "It's okay now, everything's okay."  
Suddenly overwhelmed, Sjin began sinking into the lake. But it didn't matter, Sips was holding him, keeping him afloat.  
"I'm not letting you go." Said Sips, breathing hard as he took them to the shore.  
"I'm never letting you go again."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So honestly, I've been pretty chill while writing most of these chapters, but this one actually kind of got to me so.  
> I hope you enjoy it. :)


	18. I've let me down

Sips and Sjin walked quietly along the footpath that lead to Sips' house, their shadows stretching out behind them due to the setting sun. The sky was growing dark, drawing Monday to a close. The four boys had only just arrived back in town half an hour before, missing the entire school day by miles.

The silence that hung between them was uncomfortable. After their emotional reunion at the lake, both boys had drawn into themselves, not knowing what to say.  
Sjin wanted to tell Sips how angry he was. How worried he was. Wanted to yell at him, for making him feel so useless. But also, desperately wanted to hug him and reassure him, and try to understand why he'd run in the first place, not even leaving a note behind.

Sips wanted to apologize for how unreasonable he'd acting in leaving, wanted to explain to Sjin how he'd felt like the relationship wasn't a positive thing for Sjin's life. How he felt like a useless weight that Sjin had to lug around.  
But the words wouldn't come, and so they just walked, scuffing their shoes on the concrete, with an awkward space between them. A little too close to be just friends, but not close enough to suggest intimacy.

By the time they'd arrived at Sip's house, both boys were struggling to stand, weariness from the long car drive pulling them into a state of half-sleep. Sjin pulled Sips into a quick hug, and turned to walk back down the road. Sips watched after him, raising his hand across his forehead to protect his eyes from the sun. He watched Sjin's silhouette up until he turned a corner, out of sight.

Sips let out a sigh he'd been holding all day.  
He knew there was going to be hell to pay for Sjin missing school. Just another thing to blame himself for.  
He turned to look up at the house he'd spent his whole life in and involuntarily shuddered. He didn't know what was going to happen when he stepped inside, but there was nothing left to do but give it a try.

Lalna stumbled up the steps of his house, barely able to keep his eyes open. It always bothered him that even though you never did anything on a car ride, you always ended up feeling so exhausted.  
His parents were still out at work, so he helped himself to a microwave pizza and a shower. He had let them know he was away, but hadn't mentioned missing a day of school. With any luck they won't have even noticed. They always left early and came home late.  
He jumped eagerly on to his bed, smashing his face into his pillow.  
A moment later, his phone began to ring, and he started screaming into his pillow.  
Mumbling curses under his breath, he answered.

"Hello?"  
"LALNA!" screamed his phone.  
Lalna almost dropped his phone to the floor, recoiling back from the volume of his cell phone.  
"Yeah? What?" He said warily.  
"I need you to come to Trott's house, right now, as fast as you fucking can okay?" He recognized Nano's voice, and the panic in it.  
"I'll be there as soon as I can.”

Trott was lying on his bed, tears streaming down his face. He was thankful his parents were away visiting his grandmother, he didn’t want them to see him like this. A pathetic mess of emotion and pain. The blood was pouring out of his arms and he knew he had fucked up. But he was finding it hard to care.   
Maybe this was how it was meant to end? Him laying on his bed, in a pool of his own blood and tears. A pathetic end for a pathetic life. It wasn’t as though there was a reason to go on, his relationship had crumbled, taking his two best friends and lovers with it leaving him alone. He was so used to going to them for everything that losing them meant he had no one to call for help.   
Trott’s head was beginning to spin and he knew it was only a matter of time before he passed out and everything was over. He was perfectly okay with that….. Wasn’t he? Trott was beginning to question himself. Should he really be giving up like this? How devestated will his parents be when they return home to find their only son dead on his bed? And although he wasn’t talking to Smith and Ross at the moment, surely his death would crush them?   
Trott slowly reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through his contacts till he found the only person that was going to be able to help him. The phone rang for a minute before being answered.

“Hello?”  
“Nano…… I…. I’ve fucked up.”  
Trott struggled too get the words out, his voice weak from all of the crying.  
“Trott? Oh god what have you done? Where are you?”  
“I went too deep. I’m at my place. Nano…. Please.. Just come alone.”  
“I’ll be there in 5 minutes.”  
Trott hung up the phone and let it drop from his hand off of the bed. He sank into his bed and prayed Nano would get here in time while a small part of him didn’t care if she didn’t.

Nano was out of her house and running to Trott’s place the second the phone called ended. She cursed herself for not having a car, or a licence for that matter, and pushed herself to run faster. She had an idea of what Trott had meant. It sounded a lot like he had cut himself too deep and that worried the fuck out of her. She was scared out of her mind and didn’t have a clue how she would be able to help Trott if it was really bad. So she pulled out her phone and called the one person she trusted more than anyone.

"Hello?"  
"LALNA!"   
"Yeah? What?"   
"I need you to come to Trott's house, right now, as fast as you fucking can okay?"   
"I'll be there as soon as I can.”  
Nano hung up the phone and turned a corner, only a few more house and… there!  
She turned down driveway and burst through the thankfully unlocked front door of Trott’s house.

“TROTT.”  
Nano yelled, as she ran up the stairs, heading to the room she remembered was Trott’s.  
“Nano…”  
Nano entered the room that she heard Trott’s voice and froze in shock. The sight before her completely broke her heart. Trott was laying on his bed, blood from his arms staining his sheets red and the poor boy was pale.  
“Trott. Oh Trott.”  
Nano ran to his side and put each of her hands on both of Trott’s arms where the cuts were in order to slow down the blood.  
“I’m sorry.”  
Nano looked Trott in the eyes. The man looked broken, tears still falling down his cheeks.  
“It’s okay Trott. Everything is going to be okay.”  
Nano tried to keep her tears at bay. She had to be strong from her friend. Thankfully Nano heard the front door open.   
“NANO. TROTT.”  
“UP HERE.”  
Trott looked at Nano and began to move a little under her.  
“Why is he here… I told you.”  
“Yes you told me not to tell anyone well too bad because we need Lana’s help to make sure you will be okay.”  
Lalna entered the room and gasped, he had the same reaction.  
“What happened here?”  
“I’ll tell you later Lal. Just please tell me you drove here.”  
Lalna nodded his head.  
“Good. We need to get Trott to the hospital now.”  
Trott began to move even more now.  
“No. Can’t let anyone know.”  
Nano pushed Trott down and looked him in the eyes.  
“Trott. There is nothing we can do for you. I know how you feel but we aren’t going to just leave you here to die. So hospital. now. “  
Trott nodded and Lalna walked over to the pair.  
“Let’s rip up these sheets to help slow the blood before we go. Okay?”  
“Yeah that’s a good idea.”  
Lalna tied his makeshift bandages on Trott’s arms and picked the boy up as Nano held onto one of his hands.  
“You are going to be okay Trott. I promise.”

Two hours later, Nano found herself sitting beside Trott’s hospital bed while the boy slept. Lalna had left almost immediately, going home in order to intercept the phone call from the hospital. They had lied to the staff, saying Trott’s parents were out of town and somewhere without any service and the boy had been staying with Lalna. Thankfully they brought it.  
Nano hadn’t been able to keep the tears in and found herself quietly crying while Trott slept. This must of been her fault. Trott probably got the idea of cutting from her, when he caught her in the bathroom. After blaming herself for half an hour she realized she wasn’t the only one to blame. Something had happened between Trott, Ross and Smith. Something that had caused the once inseparable tiro to break up. She got her phone out of her pocket and tried to call both Ross and Smith, but neither of them answered.   
“Oh they are not going to get away that easily.”  
Nano got up out of her seat and walked towards Trott.  
“Don’t worry, I’m going to do everything I can to help.”  
She leaned down and kissed the boy on the forward before leaving the room. Determined to find Ross and Smith and let them know what had happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I hope this chapter is okay, my friend who usually writes the chapters wasn't able to finish the chapter so I (the owner of the account and the one who writes the smornby fics) stepped in and finished it off. I hope it isn't too shit


	19. Open up again, I believe in second chances

Nano burst out of the doors of the hospital raging like a storm.  
She couldn't believe that Trott could have done that to himself. At least, not to that extent. And worst of all, it was all her fault. She was the reason he was introduced to self harm, and now look where he was. Barely conscious in a cold hospital bed. She made a mental note and pushed the disappointment in herself to the side. She could deal with that later, but right now it was time to hunt down Trott's USELESS ex boyfriends.  
Regardless of the mysterious event that had split them, surely they still cared. Would still want to know about the state that Trott was in right now.  
With a heavy heart, she waved down an oncoming taxi and hopped in, barked Smith's address at the timid driver and rested her chin in her palm, staring out the window and wondering if things would be different had she never spoken to Trott about her nasty habit.  
Would he be safe right now if it wasn't for her?

By the time the taxi pulled up at Smith's place, Nano was fuming. She was just so angry at everything. Trott didn't deserve the shit that had happened to make him feel like this. He was such a kind person, and Nano always looked forward to their after-school talks.  
She threw a handful of notes through to the front of the car and got out, walking with her hands in fists up to the front door.  
She knocked hard on the door twice, her face already set in the scowl she'd prepared for Smith. After not hearing anything from inside, her face dropped. No way he wasn't here. She didn't come all this way for nothing. She let out a small gasp of frustration and knocked again, even harder. This time there was movement from inside, and Nano had her frown all set up when the door opened.  
A woman who must have been Smith's mother opened the door.  
"Hello?" She said, almost nervously.  
Nano's face softened immediately. Of course, the poor lady must be terrified. A grumpy teenage girl showing up at her front step in the middle of the night, with what she guessed - correctly - was blood on her sleeves.  
"Sorry, ma'am, hello, I'm Nano. I go to school with Smith, and I really need to talk to him. Is he here?"  
She hesitated, looking back into the house while keeping a hand on the door.  
"Um." She looked wary.  
"I know what time it is, I'm sorry, but I really wouldn't be here if it wasn't very important."  
The door opened. "Okay. Smith's up in his bedroom with his friend Strippin. If you could be quick, I'd appreciate it."  
Nano smiled widely, nodding her head at the woman. "I'll be as fast as I can, thank you."  
The moment Nano moved out of Smith's mother's view, fury returned to her face in a split second.  
She practically kicked Smith's bedroom door in, and took in the sight before her in a split second; Strippin, shirtless and stretched out on the bed. Smith was on top of his "friend", straddling him while leaning in close so their lips connected hungrily.  
At the sound of the door flying open, Smith threw himself off of the bed and straight onto the floor, and Strippin reached for his tee.  
"What in the flying FUCK is going on here?!" Screamed Nano. "You stupid boy!"  
She walked straight over to Smith and slapped him, which pulled him immediately out of his confusion.  
"What the hell are you doing in my house?" Yelled Smith, bringing a hand up to his reddening face. "And what was that for?"  
Nano folded her arms and stared holes into Smith.  
"Trott's in hospital. He could have died tonight. So naturally, where do I find you? Locking lips with this bag of dicks." She gestured to Strippin. He made to argue with her, but the anger in her eyes silenced him immediately.  
"Trott?" Smith whispered. "What happened? Where is he?"  
Nano put a hand on his shoulder, immediately regretting her harsh words. Just at the mention of Trott's name, Smith was clearly filled with grief.  
Strippin however, was less touched. "Let me guess. The poor trout tried to kill himself in a desperate attempt to win back his exes? Pathetic attention seeking at it's worst. If he's not dead, then he clearly wasn't trying to kill himself. He just wanted..."  
Nano cut him off. "If you keep talking, you're gonna get a fist."  
Smith ignored their exchange completely, and took Nano's hand. "Where is he? Can I see him? Please?"  
Nano nodded and moved towards the doorway, pulling Smith by his hand. Strippin cut them off.  
"What? Smith? You're just gonna leave? I've been waiting ages for tonight, and you're just gonna leave me in your house to go see your tragic ex? Are you serious?"  
Smith's mouth tightened. "I'm sorry..." He said quietly.  
"How about you just stay. You can see trout whenever you like. Stay with me, forget that hopeless case. He broke up with you, remem-"  
Nano's fist shot out with the speed of a striking snake, and nailed him square in the nose.  
She pulled Smith past Strippin as he brought his hands to his nose and fell to the floor, blood already pooling in his palms.  
"Sorry!" Smith called back towards his room, as he and Nano picked up speed towards the front door of the house.  
"What's going on?" Smith's mother asked, sticking her head around the doorway to the family room. "I heard yelling."  
Smith put on his cool calm and collected face, and reassured her. "Just a bit of an emergency. Nothing major, teenage drama. Strippin is just packing up his stuff, he'll be following us out in no time. I'm not sure I'm gonna be back tonight, so don't wait up okay? See you later, I love you." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and ran out of the house. Nano shot the stunned woman a quick smile and followed him out.  
Smith was shaking on the footpath.  
"What happened?" He asked, his voice cracking.  
Nano put her hands around his shoulders. "Unfortunately, Strippin was pretty close to the truth. He hurt himself, Smith. Real bad." Smith let out a sob. "He's gonna be fine, but I thought you'd want to be with him. If it's okay, I'd like to go get Ross first. Will you come with me?"  
Smith pressed his hands into his eyes and composed himself.  
"If we're going to see Trott straight afterwards, sure. But I'm not sure he's gonna want to come with me."  
Nano smiled sweetly. "He's not going to have a choice."

Nano stood with her hand on the door to Ross' room. Smith stood next to her, with his heart almost beating out of his chest. He never really got a chance to talk to Ross about all this, and he really didn't know how he was going to react.  
He nodded at her, and she swung the door open, most of her anger already exhausted on punching Strippin.  
"Ross?" She called softly into the pitch darkness of Ross' bedroom.  
"Yeah?" Ross answered airily. Had he been asleep?  
"Uh, hi, it's Nano. Is it okay if I turn the light on?"  
"Sure!" Ross said, the smile he wore obvious in his voice.  
With the flick of a switch, Nano revealed a bedroom filled with dirty laundry and dishes, and a half-naked Ross on the bed.  
"Hello!" He said merrily.  
Nano frowned. "Hi... I've got Smith with me."  
Ross pouted dramatically. "He was mean to me."  
Smith walked up to him. "I know what I did was wrong, Ross. I'm sorry for-"  
"I'm hungry!" Ross announced loudly, cutting Smith off.  
Nano shot Smith a look, before sitting down on the bed next to Ross and putting her arm across his shoulders. "Ross? Is everything okay?"  
"Something's wrong with him, obviously." Smith said, too nervous to get any closer to his ex.  
"Hey!" Ross shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Smith. "This is your fault okay. If it wasn't for you being dumb, I wouldn't have slept with... With... Whatever his name is."  
Smith looked uncomfortable, and looked away when Ross mentioned sex, looking at Nano with sad puppy eyes.  
"Don't look at me like that!" Nano said accusingly. "You were about to sleep with Strippin, you're just as bad as he is."  
Smith opened his mouth to say something, but Ross cut in.  
"Strippin. Never liked him. I like my guy more, Smith. He gave me some pills and now I don't feel sad any more. Does Strippin do that for you? No. Because he doesn't care about you. Not like we used to."  
Tears sprung up in Smith's eyes and he walked quickly out of the room.  
Nano looked at Ross in disgust. "You're high?"  
Ross giggled at her and rested his head on her shoulder. "Maybe just a little bit," he said, pinching his index finger and thumb together.  
Nano shoved him off of her, nose turned up.  
"Fucking pathetic, Ross." She walked across the room to a small note pad on Ross' desk.  
"I'm leaving you a note here, okay? Make sure you read it when you come down."  
She scrawled a quick message explaining the situation, and before she'd even finished she heard Ross' snores.  
She went and found Smith outside, still crying, and the pair made their way back to the hospital. The encounter with Ross had left a bad taste in both of their mouths, and it didn't go away.

Nano found herself being prodded awake.  
The last time she looked at the clock, it had been 10 past 2am. Glancing up now, it had just ticked over to 4. She stretched out and looked over at the source of the prodding. Smith. He still looked wide awake.  
"Have you slept?" Nano mumbled, still half asleep.  
Smith smiled sheepishly, as if he were in trouble. "Not yet, no. I figured... Well, it's late, and I thought I'd let you get home, if you want. I'll be here when he wakes up, I promise."  
Nano looked at Trott's small frame, asleep in the hospital bed, surrounded by beeps and blinking lights. She was so tired.  
"I think I'll take you up on that," she said, standing up.  
Smith followed her to the door to the room, and she let out a small squeak as he wrapped her up in a huge hug. She felt hot tears landing on her shoulders.  
"Thank you. For everything."  
She pulled back and smiled at him. Then she punched him in the arm, only half playfully.  
"I'll waive my fee this time," she said with a toothy smile.  
He smiled at her and gave a small wave as she turned and left.  
He stretched out his arms, yawning. He glanced over at the clock. Still hours left until day break, and he knew he wouldn't sleep for a moment.  
He took a seat next to Trott's bed, and kissed his shoulder, bare and exposed above the bandage on his arm.

Smith just finished reading his third horoscope, and was about to go and get himself a drink of water from the cooler when Ross ran into the room. His eyes were bloodshot, from tears or drugs Smith didn't know.  
Both boys went stiff, and without saying a word they both sat. Ross took a breath in every few minutes as though he was going to say something, but the words never came.  
Just as the rising sun began to send rays into the small hospital room, Trott stirred.  
Ross and Smith both stood up immediately, moving to his side.  
The moment he opened his eyes, his heart soared. His boyfriends were here. They cared.  
Then his heart came crashing back down into his stomach. Not his boyfriends. His exes. What were they doing here? He only wondered for a split second, before all the memories of the night before came crashing back to him, and he knew.  
"Nano brought you guys here," he said, his voice weak. It wasn't a question.  
Both boys nodded.  
"And you came?"  
Both boys nodded harder. Trott smiled weakly.  
"Thank you..."  
He fell asleep again, his dreams filled with the smiling faces of the two people he loved most. They'd come.

Soon after Trott had fallen asleep again, Smith finally got up to get that drink.  
He felt something, in his chest. Things were going to be okay. It might be hard, for both him and them, to get over what he did. But, for the first time since it happened, he felt like they could do it. They could get through it.  
He wore a hopeful smile on his face as he turned the corner to the cooler, when suddenly the front doors burst open, a whole host of doctors running alongside a gurney hurdling down the hallway.  
He only got a moment to look at the face of the patient, but there was no mistaking him.  
It was Sjin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, thank you for returning after the tragic lack of chapter that was last week. :P  
> Now we're back on track for the usual schedule.  
> Hope you enjoyed. :D


	20. There's nowhere we can hide

Tom had thought long and hard about what he was going to say today. He wanted some way to explain to Xephos all the things he'd been feeling without revealing how angry and disappointed he was that Xephos cancelled their earlier date.  
He wanted to stay calm and collected in the face of his friend. Or whatever they were.  
He strode confidently through the school hallways, ignoring all the faces passing him by, the slams of the lockers and the shoes scuffing on the tiles, until he arrived just a corner away and his heart began to race.  
After one more run through of his cool, calm speech, he nodded to himself and stepped up to Xephos' locker.  
He wasn't there.  
Tom mentally kicked himself. Duh, he had no guarantee that Xephos was going to be here. Why the build up? Maybe now he could go back and fine-tune the points he wanted to make to Xephos. He was looking thoughtfully up at Xephos' locked when a throat was cleared behind him.  
He turned to find exactly the boy he'd been looking for, staring at Tom curiously as a smile danced across his lips.  
"You okay?" Xephos asked, politely.  
Tom took a step forward with his finger pointing in a know-all fashion towards the sky, half way through the first word of his rant, when he tripped, stumbled forward and threw his hands out.  
Xephos caught him and Tom blushed violently.  
"Fuck," he muttered under his breath. He stood up slowly with a wide smile on his face and patted himself down, while Xephos watched in confusion. Once he'd finished dusting himself off, Xephos opened his mouth to speak but Tom silenced him immediately with a raised hand.  
He turned stiffly, like a soldier, to face down the hallway and began walking away from Xephos, far too embarrassed to speak.  
He'd almost turned the corner again by the time Xephos had worked up the nerve to take his hand to stop him. "Tom," Xephos said gently. "Is everything okay?"  
Tom turned and pouted, shutting his eyes tight because he couldn't stand to look Xephos in the eye after the display of stupidity he'd just performed.  
"I just wanted to say that I was looking forward to seeing you this past weekend and I want to know why you cancelled." He stammered out. Nowhere near as impressive and elegant as the speech was, but he supposed it would have to do.  
"Oh thank god," Xephos said, putting a hand over his heart. "I thought something serious had happened! You looked so worried." He laughed softly, which only served to frustrate Tom.  
"It was serious! Serious to me, at least. Nice to know how you really feel about it."  
He turned to leave again, and again Xephos took his hand.  
"Tom, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that at all, you know that." Xephos took him into a little alcove between some lockers and explained what had happened over the weekend, and his reason for cancelling. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you what happened sooner, it was just all a big blur and I kind of forgot. I am really, really sorry."  
Tom's mouth fell ever so slightly lower to the ground with every word Xephos said passed "Sips ran away", and by the end he was even more apologetic than Xephos, gasping and apologizing every second until Xephos finally put his hands up in a gesture of surrender.  
"Tom, you don't have to apologize. I cancelled on you and didn't even tell you why. You had fair reason to be angry. I guess the question now is... Do you want to make another time? For us to hang out, I mean?"  
Tom smiled.  
"Yes! I mean, yes, that'd be really good."  
The pair smiled at eachother.

Sjin sat outside the principal's office shaking like a leaf.  
He'd been sitting there for almost half an hour now, which he suspiciously figured must be a tactic to get him to panic. It was working, a little too well.  
The office lady's phone rang and Sjin just about jumped out of his skin. He made eye contact with her, and she gestured to the door as she put the phone down.  
"He'll see you now".  
Sjin grimaced. Like this was some kind of messed up doctor's office.  
He stepped into the grand room that acted as the principal's office, and the large man sat in the large leather chair gestured to a small, uncomfortable looking seat in front of his desk.  
"Sjin?" He said gruffly.  
"Is this about me missing a day of school? Surely that's not something you pull students in here for. The chairs outside would be filled up constantly." Sjin stammered nervously.  
"This isn't about missing a day of school." He said flatly.  
Sjin looked up at him hopefully.  
"This is about missing a particular day of school. Namely, the one that meant just under half of your final grade for Architecture and Design. You're a good student, Sjin, and I don't understand why you'd miss a day that was clearly so important. We will, of course, let you re-sit the test in question, but I've called you in here to let you know that it is our intention to phone your parents in regards to this absence. It is unlike you, and we'd like to keep a line of communication open with your parents to make sure one of our brightest students won't trip at the final hurdle."  
Sjin felt his chest threaten to collapse. He was suddenly out of breath.  
"Y-yes sir."  
The large man waved a hand of dismissal and Sjin stood and left, making his way out of the offices and into an empty hall before falling to the floor and crying.  
His parents were going to kill him.  
He'd been sitting on the floor for twenty minutes when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Wiping his eyes, he checked his texts, looking forward to something witty from Sips.

Mom: Get home the moment school ends. Your father and I are so disappointed.

His entire body froze.  
He didn't have a snowball's chance in hell.

Sips looked out across the ocean of bodies in desperate search of Sjin. He was perched on the top of a questionably stable pillar right at the front of the schoolyard. They always met here after school, if they didn't walk out together. He checked his phone for the fourteenth time, still nothing. He was so confused. Sjin had made such an enormous effort to come find him, and now, what? He was ignoring Sips? Avoiding him?  
Sips got down from the pillar, unreasonably angry at himself for not bending his legs enough to stop ground shock from jarring his knees.  
What in the hell was going on.  
Sips spotted Tom walking past him, and plucked him none-too-gently from the crowd.  
"Tom, have you seen Sjin?"  
Tom didn't know where to look. He didn't know what to say in front of this guy who's entire tragic weekend had just been blurted out to Tom earlier in the day.  
He decided to just stick with the truth.  
"Nope, haven't seen him. Maybe he's gone home?"  
Sips pondered this for a moment. "Without telling me?"  
Tom shrugged. "He probably had to anyway, I imagine his parents would be wanting to have a few words with him." Tom smiled.  
Sips stared at Tom. "Why would they want that?" He asked stiffly.  
"He, uh," Tom stuttered under the heat of the stare. "He got pulled into the principal's office earlier today."  
"Shit. Shit shit fuckity fuck." Sips mumbled. "Thanks Tom, talk to you later."  
And without another word, Sips was off, rushing against the crowd with his cellphone to his ear and his heart pounding. He wasn't going to let them hurt him. Not ever again.

Sips threw himself into the passenger seat of Xephos' car, a place he was now all too familiar with. Lalna hauled himself into the back seat and Xephos sat with a pouty face.  
"What on earth is going on now?" He asked, a little put out that yet more of his time was going to be dedicated to driving around saving Sips and Sjin's relationship. He was so tired.  
"Just drive and I'll explain!" Sips ordered.  
On their way, Sips hesitantly explained the bruises and marks he'd seen on Sjin, the way his parents treated him, and his concerns that whatever had pulled Sjin into the office, it could be big. And if it was big trouble, Sjin was certain to be in bigger trouble now.  
The trio pulled up in front of Sjin's house. You could hear the yelling from inside the car.  
Sips opened his door and hesitated for a moment, turning to his friends.  
"Guys, I want you to stay in the car okay? Whatever's happening in there, you don't want to know about it. Keep the car running... Just in case."  
Sips ran, anger already written on his face, towards the front door. A sick feeling threw his stomach in loops and he almost retched. He slammed the door open, and Sjin's father immediately shot Sips a stare filled with hatred. But Sips didn't even notice. He was entirely focused on the broken body on the floor, protected only by his own arms from the onslaught from his very own mother.  
She kicked him brutally, again and again, without even noticing Sips' appearance through her screaming. She was crying.  
Sjin's father made a move to get Sips out of the house, but the teen was too quick and shoved him back, before making a sprint towards Sjin's mother.  
He tackled her hard, slamming her into the floor with the impact of a sack of bricks.  
Sips pulled his fists back in a rage and was only moments away from throwing the punch of his life when large hands threw him off the injured woman.  
"Don't you dare touch my wife, scum!" Roared Sjin's father.  
"Don't you dare touch my boyfriend you piece of SHIT!" Sips screamed, his voice breaking, as he threw a wild punch at the man.  
He easily stepped out of the way of Sips' fist, and ran over to his wife. Sips did the same, bending over Sjin's body. Shaking him gently.  
"Sjin, Sjin please, wake up." The brown headed boy was bleeding from at least two places, and barely any non-bruised skin was visible.  
He was screaming again, and he vaguely registered surprise in the back of his mind as he realized he was crying.  
"Sjin, SJIN!" He yelled.  
He felt for a pulse.  
...  
Weak, but it was there.  
Suddenly, the wind was knocked from him. Sjin's father had brought his elbow down in the middle of Sips's back, and he cried out.  
"Everybody stop moving please!" Bellowed Lalna from the doorway. "The police and an ambulance are on their way." Xephos was clearly on his cellphone in the shadow behind him, both teens looking very concerned at the sight before them.  
"Sjin." Sips cried.  
"Sjin."  
The sirens were the last thing he heard before he passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that brutal, horrific ending, I thought I'd let you guys know that there are only three chapters left for this Fic!  
> Three more weeks before this whole thing is wrapped up.  
> So as usual, thanks for your support, always love getting comments, and we'll see you next week.  
> <3


	21. I'm sorry for everything

Sjin heard a knock at the door, and sat up in a panic, unaware of where he was. Just the small act of sitting winded him, as pain shot through the right side of his chest. He looked down at himself, finally noticing the hospital gown and his whitewashed surroundings. Light came in through a large window overlooking a grey, wet parking lot, and there was a vase of flowers in very conservative colors sitting at his bedside.  
He remembered... What did he remember?  
Sips. Arguing with his parents. The fight. The police, and the ambulance.  
He looked over to the window of his door with a hand on his head, the small glass rectangle giving him a somewhat depressing view of a fluorescent-lit hallway. He tried to speak, but his throat was too dry and he winced as air ripped against his oesophagus.  
His second attempt went better. "Come in," Sjin said softly, his voice sounding like he'd eaten gravel for breakfast.  
The door opened to reveal another boy in hospital garb, who smiled uncertainly at Sjin.  
"Can I come in?" Trott asked, making sure to wait for an invitation before stepping inside the room. Sjin smiled at him and nodded, glad to see a friendly face. His face faltered when his brain caught up to the fact that Trott was also clearly a patient.  
He began to ask, but realized Trott had started to talk already.  
"Smith saw you come in earlier this morning. I've been here all night and really needed to get out of bed for a walk and I guess I just found my way here. What happened to you?"  
Trott regretted the question the moment he saw Sjin's reaction to it.  
"You don't have to tell me," he quickly stammered, but Sjin held up a hand.  
"I'll give you my story if you'll give me yours." Sjin said, and gestured to the padded seat next to his bed.

"Your parents really did that to you? That's fucking awful."  
Sjin nodded. "Probably. But this is kind of the way it's always been. I keep in line or I get hurt. I guess it's worked pretty well too, my grades have always been pretty high." He shrugged. "But I had this done to me. You must be hurting a lot more, to want to inflict this on yourself."  
Trott looked hurt at the words.  
"Not at all. I chose this for myself. You've had all of this bullshit forced on you, by the people you're supposed to rely on the most." He looked angry. "It's easy to hurt yourself. Everything is up to you... Nothing else matters. No one else. It's your choice. To be hurt by the people who brought you into this world... I can't even imagine it, Sjin. Are you gonna be okay?"  
Sjin smiled sadly.  
"I imagine, after all of this, that I'm going to be safe from them. Regardless of whether or not I want it, my parents will be taken from me, probably. My question is how are you ever going to be safe from yourself?"  
The younger boy twisted uncomfortably in his seat.  
"I think this whole hospital thing has made me very aware of the choices I’ve made. My parents don't know about any of this, and with a bit of luck they never will. The hospital is desperate to make contact with them but I think Lalna is cheating through that, somehow. I think with my boyfriends, and my friends at my side, I'll be able to get through it."  
Sjin took Trott's hand and squeezed tightly.  
"I'm sure you can."  
Trott squeezed back.  
"You can too, Sjin. Don't forget it."  
At that moment, there was a knock at the door.  
Trott jumped to his feet as the door opened to reveal a couple of uniformed police officers. Trott shot a reassuring smile over to Sjin before wordlessly exiting the room.  
"Sjin, hi. We'd just like to ask you a few questions about what happened last night, if you're feeling up to it." Sjin stared at them until it became clear they actually wanted a response, and nodded gently. They sat with straight backs and shoulders pushed back.  
"We have different statements from all three of the people we believe were in the house during the..." He gave an uncomfortable glance at Sjin's state. "Incident. We also spoke to your friends, Lalna and Xephos, who both said they did not see enough to make an educated statement about the situation, but we’re confident your parents were lying about..." Yet another pause, and another look at Sjin. "Certain aspects of what had happened."  
Sjin furrowed his eyebrows. "What does that mean?"  
The officer nearest to him took a deep breath. "We'd like to get your statement first, your side of the story. You understand, if we tell you what the others said then it could skew your 'memory' of the event."  
"Well, uh, I just remember coming home from school, and my parents were angry. My Dad, uh, he knocked me around a bit, I tried to run but he caught me in the front hall and shoved me to the floor. I don't really remember much after that. I remember Sips coming in, fighting with my Dad, and then crying and holding my hand."  
The officer furthest from Sjin was writing along with Sjin's words, and the front officer just nodded. "And Sips, he's your..." For the third time, the officer looked uncomfortable, and this only made Sjin angry. If this fucker could just do his god damn job, then surely they could get this over with and Sjin could go back to his life. "...Good friend?"  
That was it, the last straw.  
"He's my BOYFRIEND. I love him and he loves me and we're both male and it doesn't fucking matter. He is my boyfriend and he came to rescue me when he knew something was wrong, without knowing, without me telling him anything, he knew what he had to do and he'd stand up to my parents to make sure I was okay. Hell, he’d stand up to anybody for me."  
Sjin was crying now, his face flushed red like a tomato as the tears fell.  
Both officers were all business now; apparently it was easier for them to talk to people in hysterics. Police were weird sometimes.  
"We have it from your father that it was Sips who turned up at your house, unannounced, and attacked you. That any harm that came to you was by the hand of your 'boyfriend'. Are you protecting him?"  
Sjin shook his head, sending droplets across the room.  
"My parents did this to me. Not him."  
The officers looked at each other and sighed.  
"Just a few other questions, if you don't mind."  
Sjin wiped at his eyes. This was clearly going to take a while.

Smith stood outside Strippin's house.  
He'd spoken a little to Ross earlier, at school, about what he should do. He felt the best course of action would be to just approach him, apologize, and tell him it was over. It should've been easy. He knew he never really had any feeling for Strippin, but somehow that only made it worse. How do you tell somebody you never really liked them in the first place? That they were just a space-filler?  
Smith's stomach flipped. He couldn't. He just couldn't be that heartless. He'd just made a mistake... He sighed audibly. He made a mistake that he had to make right.  
He made his way to the door and knocked politely. Strippin answered with a sweet smile.  
"You're back." He said.  
Smith shrugged and felt himself blush. "I'm back. Can I come in?"  
Strippin gave him a sly smile. "The price of admission is a 'sorry kiss'." He said, puckering his lips. Smith hesitated and Strippin picked up on it immediately. "No 'sorry kiss' then, huh?"  
Smith just shook his head. "'Fraid not."  
"Is this about Trout? He hurt himself and now the whole band's back together? HIs parents aren't carting him off to some far-away mental asylum?"  
Smith cringed at Strippin's lack of subtlety.  
"It's not like that. His parents don't even know. He almost died, Strippin. He could have really been hurt, and I'd have been here, making out with you. I shouldn't have accepted your invitation. Even the kiss at the party was a mistake. I mean, you're hot and all but I just don't think we'd work, like as a couple. I'm sorry."  
Strippin laughed. "Fuck, Smith, you crack too easy. I don't care if you're 'in love' with me. We were just having a good time together. But hey, if you want to throw it in for some dramatic emo story with the others, it's up to you I guess. But just so you know, you're making the wrong choice. Goodbye."  
Strippin slammed the door in a stunned Smith's face, and watched from behind the curtain as the beautiful redhead walked away. Fury boiled his blood, and he screamed obscenities once Smith was out of earshot. He'd been so close. So close to having what he wanted.   
Smith, that gorgeous boy.  
But he was too soft, clearly. Let the best thing to ever happen to him just slip away. Throw him aside the moment little Trotty was in distress. Ugh. Weak.  
Strippin stewed in fury for an hour at his desk before an idea formed. Why should Smith get the happy ending? Leaving Strippin in the dust. No way was he gonna give up that easily.   
A quick Google search later and Strippin had his cellphone in hand, with the dial tone merrily beeping in his ear. He heard the sound of the phone picking up, and a woman's voice spoke.  
"Hello?"  
Strippin put on his awkward teen voice. "Hi! I just thought I'd call with my condolences. I know you must be having a very hard time with Trott right now, I really do hope he's doing okay."  
"Trott? What's happened?"  
Strippin smiled wickedly. "Oh, you don't know!?"

Three days later, Smith, Ross and Trott all stood outside Trott's house, with his parents waiting in the car.  
Ross was crying already, and Smith was on the verge.  
"This is goodbye?" Ross asked, trying to hold his tears back.  
"But things were only just starting to get better." Smith said.  
Trott smiled at them both. "And things will continue to get better, guys, I promise. The self-harm rehab course is only for four weeks. I'll be back before you know it."  
"You shouldn't have to go!" Smith said angrily. "Being with us is where you belong. Where you're happy."  
Trott took his hand, and then Ross'. "You're right. It is where I belong. Which means no matter how far away I go, I will come back, always. For you guys. I love you both, so much."  
Ross jumped forwards and pulled both his boyfriends off their feet in a big, tear-drenched hug, and they all laughed together.  
"We love you too, Trott!" Smith yelled as he was whirled through the air by Ross' arms.  
Trott's mother wound their window down.  
"Be careful with him, boys!" She said jokingly. "We need to get him there in one piece."  
Trott's parents had been surprisingly understanding, though perhaps a little over-eager to make sure he recovered. They were sending him away to a specialized hospital to make sure he didn't get back into any bad habits.  
As much as it pained them to see him go, Ross and Smith knew it was probably for the best.  
They waved goodbye as Trott jumped in the car, and pressed his face comically against the glass so he could burn the image of his boyfriends smiling into his mind.  
Ross leaned up against Smith and sniffled.  
"Don't worry buddy," Smith said, as the car disappeared around a corner.  
"He'll be back here with us soon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more weeks friends. :3  
> Hope you enjoyed this! <3


	22. My mind is made up

"Come on then!" Tom said enthusiastically, beckoning to Xephos through the window. Xephos looked uncertainly at Tom and laughed, the boy was nuts.  
Xephos stood in Tom's kitchen, dressed in his favourite button up tee which he'd actually bothered to iron; He wanted to make an impression tonight. When Tom had said they were doing something special, Xephos had assumed he meant "fancy". Now, looking at Tom through the kitchen window, he knew he'd assumed incorrectly.  
The window lead outside, onto the roof of Tom's house, but you had to climb over the bench with the sink sunk into it to get through, and Xephos looked skeptical.  
"Hurry up, the sun will be down soon." Tom said, exasperated.  
Swallowing his pride, Xephos lifted a leg up and hoisted himself clumsily onto the bench and through the window, ending up in a pile on the roof with Tom giggling uncontrollably just a meter away.  
"Hey," Xephos said, going red. "I got up here didn't I?"  
"That you did, I'm so proud." Tom said, his giggling fading. He reached out and took Xephos' hand, leading him across the roof carefully, pointing out where to stand and keeping the older boy from tripping on the rivets.  
After a couple of minutes of stumbling, they made it around to section of roof that faced into Tom's backyard, giving them a small space of privacy in which Tom had set up a blanket, a delicately positioned set of candles and a newspaper wrapped package of hot chips.  
Tom rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.  
"It was supposed to be romantic..." He said. "But looking at it now, it seems a bit much, huh?"  
Tom looked over at his friend to find him grinning wider than Tom had ever seen.  
"This is amazing, Tom." Xephos said, and leaned in to brush his lips against the younger boy's cheek.  
Tom blushed so that his face matched the setting sun, and gestured silently for Xephos to sit.  
The night was beautiful; Clouds rested calmly in the sky and glowed with the reds, oranges and pinks of the quickly disappearing sun. The air was still and warm on Xephos' skin, and the only sound beyond Tom unwrapping their dinner was the crickets and birds from Tom's backyard.  
They ate mostly in silence, crunching on their chips and watching the steam rise off them and disperse into the gorgeous sky. Once the sun began to disappear from sight, Tom lit the candles and Xephos took his hand, and suddenly Tom was on him, and their lips were together and everything was perfect.  
Their lips danced on each other and both boys were no longer aware of their surroundings, pouring everything into the press of their lips against each other. Xephos' hands began to tug at the ends of Tom's shirt, before reaching up and running his fingertips over Tom's baby-soft sides.  
Tom giggled and writhed, evidently very ticklish, and Xephos played on it running his hands faster up and down Tom's body.  
With a loud laugh and a twist of his body, Tom knocked two of the candles off of the roof and onto his parent's deck. Xephos hadn't noticed, too absorbed in the feeling of Tom's naked skin against his hands, but Tom stilled and peered off of the edge.  
"Shit, Xephos!" He yelled, seeing the flames licking the dry wood of the deck. "That'll burn the house down, we need to put it out."  
Leaning after him, Xephos spotted the flame and jumped up, turning toward the kitchen window and hopping across the roof towards it with Tom in hot pursuit. Unfortunately, in his haste, Xephos slipped up and rolled down the roof toward the gutter.  
He closed his eyes and braced for impact, but Tom had caught him at the last second, and held on for dear life.  
"Tom!" Xephos yelled, desperately trying to get his footing again, and in his desperation slipping further toward the edge.  
Tom grabbed at Xephos with both of his hands, and pulled with all his strength, hauling Xephos back up onto the roof proper, but throwing his balance off completely.  
Xephos looked in horror as Tom flew off of the edge of the roof down towards the deck, landing just short of the candle and the quickly blackening board of the deck. The force of Tom's fall, however, managed to disturb the air just enough to extinguish the flame.  
"Tom! Are you okay?" Xephos yelled.  
The boy rolled over and gave Xephos a pained thumbs up. "I'm just dandy," he said breathlessly.  
By the time Xephos got back through the damn window and out the back, Tom was up and brushing himself off.  
"Are you okay?" Xephos asked again, panting.  
"Couple of bruises are definitely on their way, but otherwise I'm good. I guess candles on the roof wasn't one of my best ideas," he said sheepishly.  
Xephos almost laughed in relief. "I guess not."  
Tom took a deep breath and took Xephos' hand, moving close.  
"Can we just pick up where we left off?" Tom whispered into the taller boy's ear.  
"No way," Xephos said quickly, and Tom pulled back, questioning.  
"You got hurt," Xephos explained. "Which means now I get to play doctor."  
Xephos scooped Tom off of his feet and held him bridal style, carrying him back into the house where they stayed for the rest of the night.

Rythian looked at Zylus.  
Zylus looked at Rythian.  
Rythian squinted his eyes.  
Zylus tilted his head and raised his eyebrows.  
Rythian lifted his hand to his black castle piece and moved it three squares forward, four squares forward, then back to three, after watching Zylus' face.  
"Damn it," Zylus said, slapping his hands to the table. "You're too good at this stupid game."  
Rythian laughed. "You didn't think it was stupid when you asked to play. You're just angry because I'm good at it."  
Zylus frowned and crossed his arms like a child having a tantrum.  
"Not fair." He mumbled, and Rythian laughed at him.  
"Come on," Rythian said, standing. "Let's go get something to eat. I'm so hungry."  
In just a few moments Rythian was grating some cheese to put in a couple of toasties, while Zylus swung his legs idly from the granite topped island in the middle of the kitchen.  
Zylus took a deep breath, and spoke. "Do you remember you said that maybe you might be, I mean, that it's possible you might like me?"  
Rythian slowed his movements but didn't look up, suddenly very interested in the toaster.  
"You know," Zylus continued, "You didn't have to say that. I mean, if you didn't mean it. Every time I bring it up you just seem so uncomfortable, and you really don't have to pretend to be interested, or pretend that you might ever be interested, if you don't want to. We can just be friends."  
The kitchen was silent but for the quiet buzzing of the toaster, and when the toast popped up both boys jumped.  
"I want to be friends." Rythian said. "I know that I want to be friends. I don't know about anything else. And that's not a yes or a no, to me being... Whatever." he turned to face Zylus. "It's a... It's a... I don't know. I just can't give you an answer, because I really, truly, don't know. If we just stay friends, then I will tell you the moment I know for sure what my sexuality is."  
Zylus stared at his friend and smiled. "Of course, you know I don't mean to pressure you or anything. I was just... Thinking about it."  
Rythian forced a smile. "Well yeah, let's just take things one step at a time, huh?"  
Rythian took their food down to the dining room, and they ate in silence.

"Nano! Could you come to the living room please?"  
Her heart stopped.  
Her parents never asked to see her in the living room. They came and spoke to her. The last time they wanted to sit down as a family, Nano's grandmother had died. No way this was ending well.  
She stepped slowly, and leaned her head through the doorway.  
"Hey guys," she said. "I'm just going out with a couple of friends, so I'll see you later okay?"  
Her father just stared at her with his arms folded sternly across his chest. Nano sighed and shambled into the room, taking a seat on the couch next to her mother.  
"What's wrong?" She asked carefully.  
"We had a phonecall from Trott's parents today, Nano." Her Mum said.  
"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Her father exploded. "Just trundling a boy to hospital in the middle of the night without thinking, without ever mentioning anything to us? Suicide, or attempted, is not something you can just brush under the rug and pretend like it's not happening."  
Nano stood up, anger scrawled all over her face. "Swept under the rug!?" She screamed. "I didn't do anything like that! I didn't pretend it wasn't happening, I acted, I helped, I did whatever I could for my friend. He didn't want anybody to know, so I didn't tell. And I'd do the same for any of my friends. I'm old enough to be able to choose what to tell you, and for the most part I trust you enough to tell you pretty much everything about my life. But when it's something this serious, I have to have my friend's back. They trust me, and I won't break that trust. Not ever."  
While her father still looked like his head was about to blow off, her mother looked at her proudly and took her hands.  
"Your father and I are both upset that you didn't tell us about what had happened Nano, but we can see the importance now, of the friends you've made here and the happiness and kindness you bring to the people around you."  
Nano took a deep breath. Was she saying what Nano thought she was saying?  
"Nano," her mother said. "We've decided that we're going to stay here until the end of the year. Make sure you finish your final year with the people you care about."  
Nano raised her hand to her cheek and found that it was wet.  
"Thank you." She said, and promptly burst into tears.

Xephos walked over to his phone. He'd left it at home, not wanting to be distracted by it while he and Tom were on their date. He had a voice message.  
He pressed listen, and Lomadia's voice filled his head.  
"Hey Xeph, it's Lomadia. I guess you're either busy or ignoring me. I hope it's not the latter. I just want to have a proper talk with you sometime, okay? I miss you. Not like that, but like a friend. I don't want to lose you completely. I heard about Tom, I hope you guys are happy together. Well, uh, call me back sometime, okay? Bye."  
Xephos smiled to himself. He missed her too.  
He hit the "call back" button and grinned.  
Everything was working out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll see you guys next week for our finale. :)  
> Thanks for reading.


	23. There's nothing left to say now

Sips frowned.  
It had been weeks, but this was his first time back in Sjin's house since the incident. He saw everything different now, the violent memories in his mind superimposed themselves over what his eyes saw; Sjin's body on the floor here, his father standing in the archway there. He closed his eyes tight and followed his boyfriend up the stairs, noting that Sjin didn't speak a word to his mother, loudly washing dishes in the kitchen.  
Things had been hectic since the police became involved, and Sjin's father was still not allowed in the house, and in fact may never be allowed near his son again, given what Sjin had said to the police officers that came by after he was discharged from the hospital.  
Sips was still furious that Sjin had to live in the same house as that crazy woman downstairs, after her contributions to the fading bruises on Sjin's body, but there was nothing that could be done.  
Sjin's father admitted to all the abuse, covering for his wife, which meant she was getting off scott free. Sjin had told him to be happy that his father was leaving, but Sips wouldn't be placated, arguing that Sjin should never be left alone with either of them ever again.  
He walked into Sjin's room still frowning, but playfully this time, as Sjin pulled out a pair of suits and grinned.  
"I know you said you didn't want to go to the ball..." Sjin began.  
"And yet you have suits." Sips finished, giving Sjin a withering look and moving to inspect the clothing. He despised the idea of formalwear, it always looked so confined and boring. With that being the case, he had suggested he and Sjin just go 'see a movie or something' as opposed to going to the ball. Clearly that plan hadn't worked out too well.  
"You know this is cheating right?" Sips said, running a finger down the fabric as if inspecting it for dust. "You can't just agree to not go and then spring this on me."  
Sjin put his best puppy dog eyes on. "Come on Sips, We have to go! It's our last chance. You've avoided it every year up until now. I just want one nice photo of us, maybe ten minutes chatting to people, then we can leave, I promise." Sjin pushed the clothing into Sips' arms with a pout.  
Sips rolled his eyes slowly and took the suit from his boyfriend's arms.  
"Fine, Sjin, but after ten minutes I'm outta there, got it?"  
Sjin jumped for joy, clapping his hands together. "Absolutely, yes!" He said excitedly. "So the ball's at eight, then we can go out afterwards if you want, I can bring some normal clothes so we can go into town and see that movie, I've got some money for popcorn and stuff, oh everybody is going to be looking so good, I've got these ties for us..."  
As Sjin continued raving, Sips just looked at him. Watched the way his eyes lit up, how his lips formed the words and the way his brown hair bounced as he rushed around the room preparing things for the night.  
Sips smiled.  
He'd never been so in love, seeing Sjin so happy like this.  
The feeling was worth a hundred nights of suit-wearing.

"Are you sure?" Tom asked, fiddling with Xephos' tie.  
"I'm sure," Xephos said over Tom's head, scrunching his nose to prevent sneezing at Tom's hair swishing back and forth in front of him. "We've been keeping it on the down-low for too long now. I think it's time we came out proper. Most people probably have worked it out by now anyway, and it's not like it's going to be a shock for anybody."  
Tom stood up, having fixed Xephos' tie, and brushed his boyfriend's shoulders off with a smile on his face.  
"It's entirely your call," Tom said, picking small hairs off Xephos' sleeves. "You're the one who didn't want to tell people in the first place. I'm just asking because, you know, once something's said it can't be taken back."  
Xephos smiled confidently and took Tom's hands to stop them fussing.  
"I know, Tom. I want people to know. I'm ready."  
Tom smiled and leaned in to kiss Xephos.  
"Good."  
"Fuck." Xephos said.  
Tom checked his breath against his hand immediately, a little hurt.  
"Is it really that bad? I brushed my teeth just five minutes ago..."  
"Not that," Xephos said, pointing at Tom's alarm clock. "Look at the time, Tom. We're going to be so late! You have to get all your DJ stuff set up before doors open, hurry up let's go!"  
Xephos dashed out of the room with Tom hot on his heels. This is how their relationship was; Waste all their time quietly with each other, then desperately trying to make up the time by rushing. The snap between modes could be neck-breaking, but it certainly made sure everything they did together was exciting, and Tom loved it.  
Tom threw himself into the passenger seat of Xephos' car, running through a quick mental checklist that all his equipment was in fact packed in the boot while he buckled up. The moment Xephos had the engine started, Tom yelled loudly:  
"Gun it!"  
The pair took off down the road, the quickly setting sun right in their eyes. Tom looked across to his partner in crime the same time as Xephos did. They laughed at each other and entwined their hands over the center console of the car, their fingers bathed in reds and oranges.  
Tom's heart soared.

Smith threw the blue tie at Ross.  
"Come on, big guy. We're going."  
Ross rolled over on his king bed and groaned. He'd been taking a nice afternoon nap, until Smith arrived and insisted that they go to this forsaken school ball. He'd been um-ing and ah-ing over whether or not to go for a week now, but since he'd woken up this morning he'd felt tired, and really couldn't be bothered.  
He'd text Smith to say as much, and then ten minutes later the redhead had arrived with a bag of clothes and an attitude that Ross couldn't stand up to.  
"Why are you so against this?" Smith said, adjusting his green tie in Ross' shaving mirror.  
Ross sat up, crossing his legs on the sheets as he played with the tie in his hands.  
"I'm sure it would be fun." He said quietly.  
Smith turned and sat down beside Ross, reaching his freckled arm over the taller boy's back.  
"What's the matter?" He asked, wiggling his head into the space between Ross' chest and arm.  
Ross sighed and lifted his arm to allow Smith passage.  
"I just feel like we're leaving Trott out of this. Like, there are going to be photos of us together, on what's supposed to be a really important night, and Trott's not gonna be with us. It just feels wrong, I feel sick just thinking about it and I just really don't want to go." He let the tie fall out of his hands onto the floor, lifeless.  
Smith cuddled up to him, wrapping both his arms around Ross and gave him a half smile.  
"It's okay buddy. We don't have to go anywhere. We can stay here, if you want. I can order pizza, we can find a movie. I understand."  
Ross smirked at Smith, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I wish you'd 'understood' before coming over, I could have stayed asleep."  
"Aw don't be like that!" Smith said, jumping to his feet. "We can have a nice night in, it'll be way better than some stupid ball."  
Ross just shrugged and looked to the floor.  
"Stupid ball!?" Came an exclamation from the doorway.  
Smith and Ross turned to look at the figure as they stepped into Ross' bedroom.  
"What the fuck am I all dressed up for then?" Asked Trott, dressed smartly in a suit and an his signature colour of orange tie.  
Ross was on his feet in seconds, hurtling through the room towards Trott, Smith hot on his heels, jumping forward onto Ross' back so they hit the small boy at the same time.  
"You're back!" Ross cried.  
"Yes, yes, I am, please don't kill me in the first minute though."  
After a moment for the trio to hug and kiss and catch up, Trott looked them up and down.  
"Guys, you better organise yourselves. Doors open in five minutes and I know at the very least Nano and Lalna are expecting us. So get going!"  
They got going, and within minutes the three boys were walking hand in hand toward the school, smiles plastered on all three faces.

Nano stood with Lalna, staring with repulsion at his purple and green striped tie which, for some ungodly reason, matched the laces on his sneakers! Fucking sneakers! She could barely believe it.  
He couldn't take his eyes off her, either, but for a completely different reason. She wore a gorgeous red dress that clung to her beautifully, and Lalna was struck dumb the moment he saw her walking towards him. They both held plastic cups of coke in their hands and bopped comfortably to the loud music. The hall wasn't exactly packed yet, but groups milled around happily chatting while Tom watched over them all from the platform next to the stage.  
Nano gave him a wave and he smiled over at her, until Xephos pulled him aside and handed him a cup of water.   
Sjin and Sips had joined them soon after arriving, and after following Nano's gaze Sjin whispered something to Sips and they both giggled.  
Lomadia and Nilesy danced through the center of the room, twirling dramatically and laughing together, while Zoey and Fiona had their own little space in one of the corners where they danced with each other on the spot.  
The sound of gasping filled the room as a song ended, and Nano turned to the door just in time to see Trott, Ross and Smith arrive, hand in hand together. She beamed. Trott had told her he was going to surprise them, and it showed. Both Smith and Ross looked at him like it was the first time they'd seen him. Trott pretended not to notice, clearly a little embarrassed by their attention, but they couldn't see anything but their boyfriend that they'd missed for all these weeks.   
Sjin was the first to approach the trio, and ran straight to Trott to hug him tightly, with Sips plodding along quietly behind him.  
"It's so nice to see you back!" He said, holding Trott by his shoulders.  
Suddenly, Nano spotted another person moving through the crowd towards the trio.  
With a polite nod to Lalna she moved quickly to intercept.  
"Going somewhere, Strippin?" She asked calmly, eyebrows arched, as the boy in front of her stopped dead in his tracks. He was thrown for a moment, she could tell because his charming bullshit smile was just a microsecond late to his face.  
"Just going to talk to the boys, wish them the best, you know." He shrugged, as if amazed by his own generosity.  
"Didn't your last black eye only just fade?" She asked, crossing her arms. "Wouldn't it be a shame if another just popped up?"  
Strippin's smile turned into a grimace, and he made a gesture with his left hand.  
"Fag hag," he mumbled under his breath as he walked away. She looked back to the boys, now surrounded by friends. She figured they'd probably had enough of Strippin to last a lifetime.

Rythian and Zylus stood awkwardly in line for the photo booth.  
Zylus was terrified of stepping over Rythian's boundaries, and Rythian was scared that Zylus would do just that, but neither of them spoke about it and as such, there was an invisible barrier between them now. Everything they did together was so careful, and Zylus was sick of it.  
As they stepped into the curtained off area, Zylus felt his heart begin to race. He was so frustrated, and something had to be done, so when the countdown began he pursed his lips and pressed them against Rythian's cheek.  
Rythian was out of the booth in a split second, and Zylus barely remembered to grab the strip of photos before going after him. Oddly, Rythian didn't seem angry.  
"Look, Zylus, I'm sorry," Rythian babbled. "I'm really sorry, but... I'll see you later, okay? I just need some time."  
Zylus watched him run off into the crowd, just as the music quietened and Honeydew stepped onto the stage in a white tux.  
"Welcome, ladies and gents, to our school ball! I hope you're all enjoying yourselves tonight, and I promise the music will be back in just a second, but first I'd like to take a moment to share a slideshow with you all! As you should know, we thrust a camera into the student body and left it there over the course of all these months, to allow you all to take photos of your best moments this year, at school or not. So without further adieu, here are the pictures you guys have taken! All these photos are available in a book for a small donation of a fiver, at the school office for the next week. Enjoy"  
With a round of applause, the curtains on stage opened to reveal a projector screen.

(The following are just a small portion of the many happy photos taken.)

-Nano in the middle of a laugh, sitting between two ice cream covered boys, Xephos and Lalna.

-Sjin and Sips sitting in a tree together on a sunny day, Sjin lying on his back with his head on Sips' lap.

-Tom, Xephos and Sips chatting merrily in detention, Sips swinging on his chair's two back legs.

-Zylus' first day, looking curiously around the school, and walking next to him Honeydew, in the middle of a wide gesture with his arms.

-Trott and Nano walking together down the street, Nano with a cheeky smile and Trott laughing.

-Zoey and Fiona's first date at an animal shelter, Zoey holding a small kitten and Fiona getting drooled on.

-Strippin's party, a wide shot of the dancefloor.

-Rythian and Zylus eating lunch together, both smiling with their heads down.

-Lalna, Xephos and Sjin in a car together with the sun blazing through the back window.

-Strippin and his friends all pulling macho poses. You can see one of Strippin's eyes is darker than the other.

-Tom and Xephos making dramatic worried faces at a burnt piece of deck.

-Lomadia and Xephos walking down a sidewalk together, catching up after a long time.

-Honeydew in his tux.

As the curtains closed with the sounds of clapping hands, Honeydew took the stage once more. "Well, wasn't that just something? Now, just before we get back to the dancing, I'd like to let you all know that in ten minutes we'll be taking a photo outside from across the pond in the park. I expect you all to be there, though it is optional. We've put a series of lights along the path to get there, but you should be able to find it quite easily, it's the big bright spot. See you all soon!"  
The music resumed, a little quieter, as people flooded out towards the park.

"Say cheese!" Yelled the photographer.

Sips stood with his hands around Sjin, and their cheeks pressed together on the left.

Tom and Xephos stood next to each other just to the right of the center, hand in hand, but at the last second Tom tip-toed to press his lips against Xephos' cheek.

Lomadia rested an elbow on Nilesy's shoulder and Nilesy made gun shaped with his hands and winked on the far right.

Zoey and Fiona just stood hand in hand, brightly smiling on the far left.

Zylus stood alone on the right, smiling despite his feelings, when Rythian appeared behind him and took his hand, without making eye contact. Zylus truly smiled.

Lalna was standing behind Nano, to the left of the center, his hands on her waist and his head resting on hers. She only just managed to get her ticklishness under control before the photo was taken.

Trott stood with his loving boyfriends between Sjin and Nano, the two good friends he'd made through difficult circumstances. Ross and Smith's arms were a tangled mess on Trott's shoulders, and they all smiled as widely as they could, so happy to be together again.

Finally, Honeydew stood in the center with his arms in the air, to encompass the huge group of people standing around him.  
With a snap of the camera lense, the final photo was taken.

Sometimes a picture is worth more than a thousand words.  
Sometimes it captures a moment so special, so beautiful, it transcends words.  
Sometimes, in a simple polaroid picture, you can ensnare love itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goodness gracious me. This chapter took easily double the amount of time I usually spend on these, because of re-writing and scrapping whole sections. Even now, I'm still not a huge fan, but I hope you can accept this ending.  
> Thank you so much to everybody who's read this, and an even bigger thank you to those who took the time to comment. I'm not usually good at persisting through large projects like this, but you guys were the ones to keep me going and I'm so proud of myself today. So thank you.  
> Also, an obvious thanks to geniusesfitzandsanders for hosting my work, coming up with all the ideas and just being an awesome friend in general, I love you lots. <3  
> So yes, that's it folks! I hope you enjoyed it, I most certainly did.  
> Thanks for reading. <3


End file.
